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The School of Graduate Studies

Course offerings

(This page is currently under construction.)

Introduction to Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience

 

Course directors: Peter Bergold and Nick Penington.

Time: Offered annually in the fall semester. Other than the three neurohistology lectures, most classes are on Tuesdays and Thursdays 1-3 PM.

Faculty: Bergold, Penington, Kass, Bianchi, Kubie, Stelzer, Gintzler, and Tiedge.

Required course for NBS students.

List of class meetings 2008/2009:

Introduction- Cytology of neurons and glia

Nervous system histology I

Bioelectricity

Nervous system histology II

Ion channels and membrane potential

Nervous system histology III

Ion pumps

Passive membrane properties; Action potential

Electrophysiological methods

Neurohistology lab

Classification of neuron ion currents

Neurotransmitter receptors I

Neurotransmitter receptors II

Neurotransmitters and neuropeptides

Journal club session - TRPM8 channels

Review

Mid-term exam

Analysis of transmitter release

Second messengers I

Second Messengers II

Presynaptic action I

Transcription

Presynaptic action II

Translation

Protein and RNA transport

Hippocampal circuitry

Synaptic integration in hippocampus

Journal club session

Synaptic plasticity I

Synaptic plasticity II

Navigation and the hippocampus

Fear conditioning

Review

Exam

 

 

 

Graduate Biochemistry

Course director: Julie Rushbrook

Time: Offered annually in the fall semester. Course meets three times per week for 2 hours per session.

Faculty: Rushbrook, Makowske, Feinman, Carty, and Gintzler

Core course. Topics include proteins, protein purification and analysis, enzymes and kinetics, bioenergetics, carbohydrate chemistry, lipid metabolism, amino-acid metabolism, nucleotide metabolism, metabolic integration, and hormone signaling. Grades are based on the results of four written examinations and one oral presentation. The topic of the oral presentation is selected at random by the instructor from eight assigned topics, all of which must be prepared. There is no required text; individual lecturers suggest a written source of information to supplement the lecture material. MCB students normally take the course in the first year; NBS students normally take the course in the second year.

Required course for MCB and NBS students.

 

Neuroscience

Time: spring semester

The course consists of lectures, neuroanatomy laboratory exercises, neurophysiology labs and conferences. It is taught in conjunction with the Neuroscience Block (MS 101) that is given in the first year of the medical school curriculum. Therefore, most course activities are taught to a mix of graduate and medical students. The thirty-eight lectures survey Cellular Neuroscience, but focus on Systems and Behavioral Neuroscience. In the six sessions (18 hours) of Neuroanatomy Gross lab, students use whole brains, sections, and dissections to guide learning. In the two sessions (6 hours) of neurohistology lab, students are taught the general properties and histological appearance of nervous tissues as well as the microscopic anatomy of the cerebral cortex, eye, and ear. In the three sessions (6 hours) of pathway review, students use myelinstained material to review brain connectivity. There are two neurophysiology laboratory sessions, one focusing on membrane physiology and the other on reflexes. Students are evaluated with two practical exams and a written exam. The practical exams, identical to the ones given to medical students, cover gross brain anatomy, neurohistology, and myelin-stained human brain sections. The written exam is an essay exam.


6.000 Credit Hours

Required course for NBS students.

 

Responsible conduct in Research

Time: spring semester

This course is designed to acquaint PhD and MD/PhD candidates in the sciences with the ethical and legal principles and practices that will guide the manner in which they conduct and report scientific research now and in the future. The goals of the course are to provide an ethical framework from which to identify and consider dilemmas arising in the course of their or other’s research, to create an appreciation of the importance and value of ethical principles to science, and to become sensitive to the ethical and legal implications and questions that surface in the pursuit of new and untried scientific discoveries. To assure a better fusion of science and ethics, the course is taught by a team consisting of an attorney/ethicist and a scientist. The ethicist, Professor Herb, provides the continuity and consistency of material while the scientist, a faculty member, brings the scientific perspective, methodology, and context. Experts in areas such as patent law may be invited as guest lecturers. The course is planned to begin at a point that would be most logical—the beginning of a research project—and proceed along the continuum of scientific research: how a project is developed and structured; if and how it gets funded; who gets credit; what, where, and how it gets published; what can go wrong; what the implications of the research may be to human subjects and animal subjects; and what the implications of the research itself may be in a socioeconomic context. (Example: the Human Genome Project.) Instruction is both didactic and interactive. For each session, students are expected to read the assignment, reflect, and write a one-page paper on the material and be prepared to engage in in-depth discussions. The cultural diversity of the student body is not only acknowledged, but special efforts are made to explain differing cultural values.

1.000 Credit Hours

Required course for all students inthe School of Graduate Studies.

 

See also courses listed under MCB