• Overview

• 2005-2006 Academic Calendar (also available as an Adobe Acrobat PDF file)

• Curricular Requirements for Students Matriculating in Fall 2005

• Course Listings

NEUX 6000
Special Topics

Study of special topics in neuroscience. Topics are selected and study programs arranged on an individual basis with staff members. 

1–3 credits
Prerequisite: Consent of instructor
Term offered: Open
Year offered: Open 
Hours per week: Variable, format to be arranged
Instructor: Staff

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The objectives of this required course are to provide students an opportunity to become familiar with the faculty and their research efforts in the Neuroscience Program by participating in the activities of the laboratory (gaining supervised, hands-on experience with techniques and experimental protocols) and by becoming acquainted with the laboratory staff and the goals of the research project. Students will be taught by discussions with the instructor, by reading relevant literature and by active participation in laboratory procedures. The long-term goal of this course is to provide exposure to a variety of experimental approaches and to help in the identification of a supervisory professor and dissertation project. Neuroscience Program students are required to spend at least 3 credit hours in each of three different laboratories (that is, do three different rotations), and must complete the three rotations before the end of their fifth term in the program. Grading is A, B, C, F and based on participation in lab discussions and experiments.

3–8 credits
Term offered: I, II, III
Year offered: Annually
Hours per week: Laboratory, 9–24 (variable)
Instructors: Staff

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Formal research directed toward development of the dissertation research for the Doctor of Philosophy degree. Grading will be based upon the student’s level of performance as reported by the student’s research supervisor and will be assigned as satisfactory or unsatisfactory.

1–8 credits

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Formal research and writing leading to the preparation and completion of the dissertation for the Doctor of Philosophy degree under the direction of the student’s supervisory committee. Grading will be based upon the student’s level of performance as reported by the chairperson of the student’s supervisory committee and will be assigned as satisfactory or unsatisfactory.

3-9 credits
Prerequisite: Admission to candidacy for the Ph.D. degree
Term offered: I, II, III
Year offered: Annually

Students registering for Dissertation are expected to register for a full-time course load.

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This course will cover the basic knowledge and concepts of proteomics, the currently available technologies for isolating and characterizing proteins, including protein extraction, purification, separation, mass spectrometry and bioinformatics, and applications of proteomics in neuroscience research. Proteins are the functional units of cells, therefore discoveries of abnormalities in them will provide the most relevant information for therapeutic treatment. However, it is much more complicated to characterize proteins than genes because of their much greater numbers, changes in three dimensional structure, and post-translational modifications. The progress in high-resolution 2-dimensional gel electrophoresis (2-DE) separation, capillary HPLC and capillary electrophoresis or their combination, mass spectrometry analysis at femtomole-to-attomole levels, and rapidly growing protein and DNA databases have paved the way for high-throughput proteomics. This will greatly speed the search for proteins important in CNS injury and neurological disorders. The course material will be covered mainly through lectures with some discussion of papers from the literature; the course will meet once per week for 1.5 hours during the final 10 weeks of the fall term. Grades will be based on a combination of class participation and a written examination.

1 credit
Prerequisite: Biochemistry in college, or BBSC 6401 (or equivalent) in graduate school, or permission of instructor
Term offered: I
Year offered: Annually
Hours per week: Lecture, 1; Conference and discussion, 0.5;
Instructor: Danxia Liu

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The course objective of this elective is to examine and critique current manuscripts that present data addressing cellular and molecular mechanisms of spinal cord injury. Readings will be selected by the course director or by mutual agreement of students and director. All enrolled students will be asked to summarize each article into one or two written sentences (40% of grade). In addition each student will present 3 manuscripts and identify the hypothesis to be tested, followed by oral critiques on the experimental design, the data collected, the interpretation of the data and whether or not the stated hypothesis was supported (60% of grade). 

1 credit
Prerequisite: None
Term offered: I, II and III
Year offered: Annually
Hours per week: Conference or discussion, 1
Instructor: Hulsebosch

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The objectives of this course are to: 1) expose the students to a wide range of current topics in neuroscience and 2) provide the students with experience in organizing and presenting seminars. Exposure to current topics in neuroscience will be accomplished by required attendance at seminars presented by local and visiting scientists. Experience in organizing and presenting seminars will be obtained by requiring the students to organize and present a seminar each year until students are admitted to candidacy. Their performance will be evaluated by the program faculty. Entry-level students present seminars based on original literature in a selected topic area. Advanced students will be expected to present literature and experimental data related to their research experiences. Grading when enrolled for attendance only will be S/U. Grading when presenting will be A, B, C, F based on performance and continued attendance at other seminars. 

1 credit
Term offered: I, II, III
Year offered: Annually
Hours per week: Seminar, 1
Instructor: Staff (organized and administered by program Advisory Committee)

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An elective readings course on the history of neuroscience. The class will meet two hours per week to discuss assigned readings from the book Origins of Neuroscience, by Stanley Finger. Students will write a paper on a historical theme chosen by the student and based on reading original works and background material. Grading based on classroom participation
(50%) and on written paper (50%). 

2 credits
Prerequisite: None
Term offered: III
Year offered: Annually
Hours per week: Discussion, 2
Instructor: Willis

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The biochemical and molecular bases of neuronal and glial function at the molecular and cellular levels will be introduced in this course. Through lectures and readings in texts and original literature, the following topics will be covered: cellular phenotypes of the nervous system, axon transport and neural repair, neuronal guidance, transmitter release, developmental neuroscience, amino acid metabolism and transport, oxidative processes, neuroimmunology and neuroinflammation, neurodegeneration, gene delivery, and genomics. Grading will be determined from a midterm exam and a final exam.

2 credits
Prerequisite:
Term offered: III
Year offered: Annually
Hours per week: Laboratory: 1, Lecture 1
Instructor: Perez-Polo

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This is an 8-week course that begins at the start of the fall term annually. The content of the course will include theory, instrumentation, methodologies and experimental applications of intracellular (sharp microelectrodes), whole-cell patch current- and voltage-clamp, and single-channel patch-clamp analysis of gated channels. There will be three hours of lecture in each of the first two weeks. In each of the successive 5 weeks, students will spend 9 hours per week in a different laboratory, observing and participating in experiments utilizing these techniques as they apply to slice preparations of brain and spinal cord, to dissociated cells, or to channel expression in oocytes or cultured cells. Grading will be based on either a written examination or a research paper. 

2 credits
Prerequisite: BBSC 6107 or consent of instructor
Term offered: I
Year offered: Annually
Hours per week: Laboratory, 1; Lecture 1
Instructor: Hamill

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The objectives of this course are to provide students with an opportunity to gain experience in how to teach and to enhance their knowledge of neuroscience. Students will participate in teaching and discussion in the laboratories of the Neuroscience and Human Behavior course (NEUR 6503), which is offered to graduate students and medical students. The students have two one-hour discussion session with faculty lab instructors each week to review the material to be covered in lab and to practice teaching skills. They will then assist in two two-hour laboratory sessions each week. Students will be expected to review material in a group session in the lab, answer questions, point out and explain structures and functional relationships of laboratory specimens, assist with demonstrations and examinations, and assist in setting up and organizing lab materials. Grading will be based on knowledge of material (20%), ability to present reviews to class clearly (40%), ability to interact effectively with small groups in lab (20%), and participation in preparatory sessions and demonstrations (20%). 

2 credits
Prerequisite: NEUR 6503, NEUR 6403, or consent of instructor
Term offered: II
Year offered: Annually
Hours per week: Conference or discussion, 1, Laboratory, 4
Instructor: Blankenship

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Lectures and discussion in this required course will cover ecological, organismal, circuit and cellular levels of fixed and plastic behaviors of both invertebrates and vertebrates. A conceptual framework will be developed for understanding the “why” and “how” of the evolution, development, causation and function of behavior. Mechanisms will be described for obtaining environmental information, for integrating and coordinating this information, and for locomotion, feeding, reproduction and defense. Grades will be based on two essay-type examinations (mid-term 35%, final 35%), one take-home conceptual framework essay question (15%) and classroom participation (15%).

3 credits
Prerequisite: None
Term offered: II
Year offered: Annually
Hours per week: Lecture, 3
Instructor: Budelmann

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This required course will form a basis for understanding the anatomical and functional organization of the nervous system. We will study the organization and physiology of major sensory systems, motor systems and the limbic system. The format will be three small-group discussion sessions and one 3-hour laboratory session each week. Discussions will cover assigned readings from a comprehensive neuroscience text and focus on critical features of the systems under study: organizational principles, functional anatomy and physiological characteristics of the system, similarities and differences between systems, and integration among systems. Grades will be based on class participation and on midterm and final written and lab examinations.

4 credits
Prerequisites: Standard first-year BBSC curriculum proscribed for Neuroscience Program students or consent of instructor
Term offered: I
Year offered: Annually
Hours per week: Discussion, 3, and Lab, 3
Instructor: Leonard, G.

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The objectives of this elective course are to provide an opportunity for students to learn the basic principles of neuroanatomy and neurophysiology, to learn basic anatomy and functional organization of the human central nervous system, and to be introduced to the biochemical and physiological processes underlying nerve cell function and behavior. The content includes the major pathways and structures of the CNS; basic electrophysiology of nerve cells and the function of major CNS components, such as motor system, sensory systems, cortical organization and function, and integrative centers; and the effects of disease or injury on nervous system function. Performance is evaluated by written exams, laboratory practical exams and performance in small-group problem-solving sessions. 

5 credits
Prerequisite: None
Term offered: II
Year offered: Annually
Hours per week: Lecture, 3; Conference and discussion, 2; Laboratory, 2
Instructor: Chung

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