BIOLOGY 22: NEUROBIOLOGY

Spring 2004

 

Lectures:          Tues. and Thur.  8:30 - 9:45 a.m.                 Labs:        Mon. or Tues.  1:15 - 4:15 p.m.

Professor:              Dr. Kathleen Siwicki                         

 

Reading Assignments: Reading assignments are from the course text: Neuroscience: Exploring the Brain, 2nd Edition, by MF Bear, BW Connors & MA Paradiso, 2001, Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, Baltimore, MD.  People who are interested in more detailed molecular and biophysical explanations of neural function are encouraged to consult a supplementary neuroscience text ON RESERVE in Cornell:  Principles of Neural Science, 4th edition, by ER Kandel, JH Schwartz, and TM Jessell (2000), McGraw Hill, New York.  The ÒsupplementaryÓ column of the course syllabus lists chapters in Kandel et al (2000) that are relevant to lecture topics.

 

Quizzes and Final Exam:  There will be a 20-minute quiz every Tuesday, focusing on the previous weekÕs lectures, exercises, and reading assignments.   There will be 11 quizzes altogether – the lowest quiz grade will not be counted.  A comprehensive final exam will provide an opportunity to review and synthesize material from the entire course.  The final will be a 24-hour take-home test, to be self-scheduled during the official final exam period, May 6-15.

 

Homework.  Homework exercises will be assigned frequently to reinforce concepts covered in lectures and readings.   Each will be worth about the same as one quiz in point value. If homework is not submitted in class on the due date, then 10% will be deducted for each day that it is late.  All homework grades will be counted.

 

Final projects:  Group projects at the end of the semester provide an opportunity for students to work in teams to apply their understanding of cellular neurobiology to investigate a neural system that subserves a particular behavior.  Groups of three students will work as teams to research the primary literature on their topic, and prepare a 40-minute seminar to be presented to the entire class during the month of April.  Each student will submit a proposal for a project topic on Feb. 26. Project groups will be assigned on the basis of these proposals, before Spring Break.

 

Grades: Course grades will be based on work during the semester in the following proportions:

                                                             45%  WEEKLY QUIZZES

                                                             15%   FINAL EXAM

                                                             30%  LAB WRITING ASSIGNMENTS

                                                             10%  FINAL PROJECT PRESENTATION

 

 

 

                                                                                                                               REQUIRED  SUPPLEMENTARY

Dates                  Lecture Topics                                                                        Bear et al.         Kandel et al.                  LAB                                                

Jan. 20

       22

Perspectives in studying the brain

Neurons as cells specialized for signaling

Ch. 1

Ch. 2

1

2, 4, 5

No lab

Jan. 27

       29

Quiz 1;  The chemistry of excitable membranes

Resting membrane potential

Ch. 3

 

7

 

Leech Neuroanatomy I

Dissection

Feb. 3

        5

Quiz 2; Action potential & voltage clamp expts

 Ion channel structure & single channel currents

 

Ch. 4: 74-82

Ch. 3: 67-69

Ch. 4: 82-88

9

6

 

Leech Neuroanatomy II

Begin primary Ab incubations

Neurons in Action: The Membrane

Feb. 10

        12

Quiz 3; Local & long-distance spread of signals

Electrical and chemical synapses

Ch. 4: 89-97

Ch. 5: 99-112

 

8

10

 

Leech Neuroanatomy III

Mount on slides ˆ view results

Papers DUE in lab Feb. 23-24

Feb. 17

        19

Quiz 4;  Neurotransmitter release

Signaling via transmitter-gated channels

Ch. 6: 131-147

Ch. 5: 112-119

Ch. 6: 147-153

14, 15

11

 

 

Introduction to Electrophysiology

 

Feb. 24

        26

Quiz 5; Synaptic integration

 Signaling via G protein-coupled receptors

Ch. 5: 119-128

Ch. 6: 153-161

12

13

Intracellular recordings of leech neurons

Leech neuroanatomy papers DUE in lab

Mar. 2

         4

Quiz 6; More G-protein signaling

Vertebrate brain organization & development

 

Ch. 7

 

17, 52

Intracellular recordings of leech neurons

Datasheet DUE in lab Mar. 15-16

 

 

SPRING BREAK

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dates

    Lecture Topics

Bear et al.

Kandel

LAB

Mar. 16

         18

Quiz 7; Olfaction: How brains encode smells

Vertebrate eyes: Phototransduction & retinal output

Ch. 8: 267-279

Ch. 9

32

26

Mammalian brain anatomy

Mar. 23

         25

Quiz 8; Central processing of visual information

Visual cortex structure and function

Ch. 10

 

27

28

Crayfish stretch receptors

Datasheet DUE in lab Mar. 29-30

Mar. 30 Apr. 1

Quiz 9; Reflexes and rhythmic movement

GROUP PROJECTS

Ch. 13

 

36, 37

Crayfish superficial flexor motor neurons

Datasheet DUE in lab April 5-6

Apr.  6

         8

Brain rhythms

GROUP PROJECTS

Ch. 19

 

46, 47

Discuss results & design experiments for

final two weeks of lab.

Apr. 13

        15

Quiz 10; Sex differences in brains & behavior

GROUP PROJECTS

Ch. 17

57

Student-designed experiments on

crayfish sensory or motor neurons

Apr. 20

        22

Associative learning in invertebrates

GROUP PROJECTS

Ch. 24: 776-785

62, 63

continued

Apr. 27

        29

Quiz 11; Learning & memory in mammals

Synaptic plasticity and memory

Ch. 23: 740-765

Ch. 24:791-806

62

63

NeuroJeopardy

Crayfish papers DUE in lab

May  6-15

TAKE-HOME FINAL EXAM

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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