Syllabus, NBIO 140 Fall, 2017
MARDER, VOLEN 314. X63140.
MWTh 1:00 to 1:50pm
Graduate TAs: Mara Rue
Ben Ballintyn
Undergraduate TA: Ron Gadot
Recitations:Monday and Thursday 5-6:20pm in Gzang 122
Office Hours:Ben: Tuesday from2-3:30pmin Volen 301
Mara:Wednesdayfrom10-11:30amin Volen 301
Ron: Sunday 6-7pm in the Farber Library
Textbook: Principles of Neurobiology (2016) Liqun Luo. This is available in numerous formats including hard bound, paperback, loose-leaf and eBook.
Course requirements: 2 midterms (100 pts each) and a final (200 pts). There will be 2 assignments, each worth 25 pts.
There will be problem sets and recitation sections led by the TAs to discuss these problem sets. Students are strongly encouraged to take advantage of the problems and TA sections because they will help in mastering the concepts of the course.
Unless students have a course conflict, they should attend special neuroscience-related seminars during the semester, as announced in class and/or on the syllabus. Most of these will be Tuesdays at noon. Attendance at least 2 research seminars during the semester will be required. There will be a question on the FINAL exam relevant to the seminars you attended during the semester.
THIS COURSE IS INTENDED FOR JUNIORS, SENIORS, 1st and 2nd YEAR GRADUATE STUDENTS who are interested in obtaining an introduction to the fundamental principles of neuroscience. IT IS NOT APPROPRIATE FOR FRESHMEN. Interested sophomores must speak personally with Professor Marder concerning the suitability of this course for them. Graduate students and seniors should note that more intensive discussion of some of the issues discussed in this course will be handled in NBio 148 which will be taught in the spring semester.
NOTE ON THE SYLLABUS: This syllabus is meant to give students a sense of what the course will cover. It is likely that some modifications of this syllabus will take placeduring the semester. Please get in the habit of regularly checking the website for updated versions.
WORK LOAD: Attendance in all lectures is expected. Students are expected to take their own notes. It is anticipated that at least 3-4 hrs of work outside of class/class will be needed to do the assignments and study for the exams.
Advice: The most effective study procedure is to read the chapter before class, take notes during class, and then create a NEW set of Study Notes that uses the lectures to provide guidelines for what the most important principles are, and to go paragraph by paragraph to reconcile the book and class notes. By rewriting Study Notes, students will take active ownership of the material.
TOPICS to be covered: structure of the nervous system, resting potentials, action potentials, ion channels, synaptic potentials, neurotransmitters, learning and memory, neurological and psychiatric disorders, motor control, vision, proprioception, pain processing, basics of pharmacology, reward and addiction, sleep
NOTES ON APPROPRIATE CONDUCT: Students are encouraged to study together and to work together on problem sets. Students are encouraged to critique each other’s papers before they are turned in. If a student has received help from someone else on a written assignment, that help should be formally acknowledged in the paper. For example, “I thank Joe My Friend for correcting my syntax and for helpful comments”. All material should be properly cited and attributed. Any papers found to be partially or totally plagiarized will be sent to the Dean’s office for disciplinary action. Any cases of suspected cheating during formal exams will be sent to the Dean’s office for disciplinary action.
If you are a student with a documented disability at Brandeis University and if you wish to request have a reasonable accommodation for this class, please see me (Professor Marder) immediately. Please keep in mind that reasonable accommodations are not made retroactively.
LEARNING GOALS and OBJECTIVES:
a)Students will obtain understanding of the basic principles of neuronal signaling in the nervous system. Students will appreciate the connections between insights from basic research to human neurological and psychiatric disorders.
b)Students will become accustomed to thinking quantitatively about membrane conductances in neuronal activity.
c)Students will learn to assess the accuracy with which scientific research is presented in the lay press, and will gain experience in writing about key scientific principles and findings.
ASSIGNMENT #1. 25 pts. Due SEPT 11, 2017 IN CLASS! NO EXTENSIONS.
As you are aware, there is a great deal of public attention today addressing the problem of opiate addiction and overdoses. Opiates have been used and abused by humans for thousands of years, and drug use and abuse have been a religious, medical, and sociological issue in ancient and modern times.
Each generation seems to struggle with a different set of drugs….there were numerous accidental overdoses in the 1950’s and 1960’s with barbiturates and alcohol, and we have moved through eras of cocaine, crack, etc.
The present era with overdoses from prescription drugs is a slightly new wrinkle…
One of the goals of this course this year will be to ensure that every student is acquainted with what is known in 2017 about the endogeneous opiate systems, what morphine and like substances do, and present thoughts about the biology of the addiction, tolerance and withdrawal processes to the opiates and other drugs most prevalently used by young adults. Depending on what your answers are to this assignment, I may make some minor modifications of emphasis in the syllabus. If you use outside sources you need to cite them appropriately. (Here is a link to some citation resources:
In 500 words or less answer ONE of the following questions:
a)Given what you know today about how marijuana works in the brain, are you in agreement with the legalization of marijuana? Why or why not?
b)Given what you know today about the neuroscience of ADHD, if a child is struggling in school, should he or she be offered drugs to help? Why or why not?
c)Given what you know today about the neuroscience of pain and addiction, do you think that if an adult has a serious chronic pain syndrome, should the physician be concerned about “addiction”? Why or why not? Are the new MA regulations for the control of opiates sensible? Why or why not?
d)Given what you know today, what are the four most dangerous “drugs” used by young adults. Why?
WRITING ASSIGNMENT #2. 25 pts (must be under 600 words). Due NOV 20 IN CLASS!
Find an article on some neuroscience-related topic published in the lay press, e.g. NY Times, Boston Globe, Newsweek, etc. Then hunt up the ACTUAL paper published in the scientific literature that led to the lay report, and evaluate the extent to which the lay account accurately portrayed the finding and its implications. Turn in a copy of both the lay account and the scientific paper with your paper.
TENTATIVE Course Schedule (may change over the semester): Changes will be posted as updates to the syllabus on Latte
1. Wed Aug 30- Introduction to the Course. Cell biology of the Neuron. Chapter 1.1-1.6
2. Thurs Aug 31-Ion channels and the resting potential. Chapter 2.5-2.7
3. W Sept 6-Measuring ion channels in cells; current voltage curves etcCh 2.8-2.14
4. Th Sept 7Voltage clamp, membrane time constants; The action potential. Ch 2.8- 2.14; 13.20-13.21
5. M Sept 11- Structure and function of ion channels Ch 2.15-2.16 Assignment 1 due in class. ON PAPER, not by email.
6. Wed Sept 13- Structure and function of ion channels Ch 2.15-2.16
7. Thur Sept 14- The propagation of the action potential; myelin diseases and periodic paralysesch 2.13
8. M Sept 18- neuronal oscillators and other voltage-gated ion channelsBox 2.4
9. Wed Sept 20diverse patterns of electrical excitability continued class notes
10. Mon Sept 25Electrical coupling and start of chemical synaptic transmissionch 1.7 Box 3.5
11. W Sept 27Synaptic transmissionch 3.12-3.16
12. Th Sept 28 Chemical Synapses ch 3.17;
13. M Oct 2 MIDTERM 1 evening exam 6:30-8:30 Swartz 112
14. TuesOct 3Release of transmitter and quantal transmissionch 3.1-3.10
15. Wed Oct 4- Release of transmitter and quantal transmissionch 3.1-3.10
16. Mon Oct 9Neuromodulationch 3.11; 3.18-3.23
17. Wed Oct 11Glutamate receptors; Hippocampus and LTPch 3.15; ch 10.1-10.14
18. M Oct 16Aplysia, habituation, sensitization ch 10.15-10.16
19. Wed Oct 18GUEST LECtURE Motor 1:Central Pattern Generators, Pyloric Rhythm ch 8.1-8.11
20. Thur Oct 19GUEST LECTURE Central pattern generators, continued
21. Mon Oct 23Motor 3Spinal Cord Organization and reflexes ch 8.1.-8.11
22. Wed Oct 25Voluntary movement, Dopamine and Parkinson’sch 8.1-8.11; ch 11.10-11.13
23. Thurs Oct 26ALS, Huntington’s and triplet repeats ch 11.9
24. Mon Oct 30Somatosensory Neurons, Opiate Peptides and Pain Processing p. 255-256. Ch 6.29-6.35
25. Wed Nov 1Descending control of pain ch 6.34
26. Thurs Nov 2MIDTERM 2 evening exam 6:30-8:30 Swartz 112
27. Mon Nov 6 Theories of addiction ch 11.18
28. Wed Nov 8 Vision 1- phototransduction and the retina 4.1-4.20
29. Thurs Nov 9Vision 2- thalamus and cortex 4.21-4.29
30. Mon Nov 13 GUEST LECTUREVision 3- critical periods and development ch 5.1- 5.7
31. Wed Nov 15- Vision 4- critical periods and development ch 5.8-5.15
32. ThursNov 16- Alzheimer’s ch 11.1-11.7
33. Mon Nov 20-34. M Nov 27Circadian Rhythms ch 8.19-8.21
35. Wed Nov 29GUEST LECtUREAuditory Processingch 6.22-6.28
36. Thurs Nov 30GUEST LECTURE
37. Mon Dec 438. Wed Dec 6Mental illnessch 11.14-11.17
39. ThurDec 7Epilepsych 11.27
FINAL: DEC 13 9:15-12:15