Courses

Students will be provided with primary literature on neuroscience. This primary literature will be the nidus of in-class discussions of experimental and statistical approaches. We will focus on how the students’ understanding of the approaches affects their interpretation of the data presented in the paper. One of the journal club discussions will focus on bioethics.

Lecture and manuscript-based presentation of topics in clinical neuroscience focused on the etiology, diagnosis, and treatment of disorders, including seizures, dementia, autoimmune disease, infection, head trauma, pain, stroke, and depression. Grading will be based on class participation and a written exam.

This is a one-semester class where students will use primary literature to explore neuroscience methods and experimental design. Students will be required to read 1-2 papers per week, discuss them in class, and highlight the methods and approaches used in the research. This class is designed to be complementary to the Basic Neuroscience course as well as the journal club. In this course, students will lead as the presenters and primary discussants.

This course is the first semester of a two-semester introduction to neuroscience. This semester starts with an overview of the brain and continues with an examination of neurons and glial cells, brain wiring, neuroanatomy, action potentials, synaptic transmission, the autonomic nervous system, the somatic sensory system, and motor function. The classes include lectures and discussions. Grades for this course will be based on a final exam, quizzes, and class participation.

Applied Engineering for Behavioral Neuroscience is an entry-level course in coding, electronics, and 3D printing for research applications. As neuroscience increasingly intersects with technology, coding and engineering skills have become essential tools for modern research. This entry level course introduces fundamental programming concepts, basic electrical circuit design, and the interface between hardware and software using platforms like the Arduino Uno and the Raspberry Pi. As this course is intended for beginners, no prior coding or engineering experience is required. Through interactive lectures and hands-on workshops students will build custom software and hardware for data collection and analysis. 3D printing for rapid prototyping will be discussed. This course bridges core engineering principles with neuroscience, preparing students to design, build, and implement innovative tools for scientific discovery. Students will complete small projects throughout the course building both software and hardware tools for data collection and analysis.

The interplay between the innate and adaptive immune systems can provide valuable insights into mechanisms that underlie the physiology and pathology of inflammation, a hallmark of almost most diseases of the brain. This course will provide the current understanding of how the intersection of neuroscience and immunology can provide us with the knowledge to discover modern strategies to understand the immunomodulation of neural functions, and neuromodulation of immune activities, in order to develop therapies for neurodegenerative diseases.

Students will pursue a research practicum each semester. For the fall and spring semesters, students will be assigned to a mentor based on their research interests. Students will meet with the course director during the semester to monitor progress. After the internship, students will write a review paper and give an oral presentation on a topic approved by their mentor, which includes their primary data. Students will be evaluated by their mentor, who completes an evaluation form, and by the quality of their paper and presentation. Note: This elective is not available to students enrolled in the Science Policy concentration.

This course will investigate how neurons and glial cells communicate with each other. We will review basic cell biology necessary for understanding processes important for synaptic transmission between neurons and communication between glia and neurons, including protein trafficking, membrane properties, and vesicular transport. This background will allow us to consider in detail how specific chemical neurotransmitters (acetylcholine, glutamate, GABA, dopamine, serotonin, histamine, norepinephrine, neuropeptides, endocannabinoids, etc) function to send different types of information between neurons and glial cells. However, since various functions of the central nervous system are largely defined by structure, we will include a brief overview of human neuroanatomy. We will use each of these transmitter systems to explore general principles of neurons (mechanisms for transducing a signal from outside the cell to the inside, the complexity and evolutionary relatedness of receptor subtypes, differences in signal transmission versus signal modulation, methods for organization of cellular membrane proteins), and relate these principles back to the fundamental biological concepts. We will also investigate how the various neurotransmission systems are altered by medicines, drugs of abuse, and toxins; students will be responsible for giving brief oral presentations on the molecular actions of these molecules. We will consider how disruption of specific neuronal pathways affects specific systems due to the defined anatomy. Finally, we will discuss in detail papers from the primary literature to highlight advances and areas of interest in mechanisms of synaptic transmission. In addition to class assignments, exams, and quizzes, you must submit an original research paper in the style of a grant proposal. BIOL-5798-01 is intended for first- and second-year graduate students with a neuroscience background. 

This course is an introduction to how science and technology affect foreign affairs and how international affairs influence science and technology. It is suitable both for the policy generalist and for students with backgrounds in science. The course uses examples drawn from environment, security, nuclear policy, information, communications, energy, homeland defense, health, and manufacturing technology, and explores issues of sustainability, scientific risk and uncertainty, the links of science and technology with economics and geopolitics, scientific advice to governments, and government support to research and innovation. It explores the role of technological innovation in increasing productivity and competitiveness, and in solving critical social problems.

This interdisciplinary course will provide introductory lectures in a variety of fields that pertain to biomedical science policy & advocacy. Lectures will cover relevant federal agencies, prominent science advocacy groups and techniques, principles of health economics, funding of research activities, the interaction of science & industry, as well as some controversial issues in science policy such as biodefense, stem cell research, and climate change. Students will be left with a multi-faceted understanding of the environment that shapes biomedical science policy and the scientists’ role in this arena.

This graduate seminar is a unique combination of presentations by experts in microbiology, antimicrobial drug discovery, and outbreaks of Infectious disease. Policy, public health, public opinion, research, ecology, host and vectors, and social science are united by key topics in global infectious diseases. Also, a purpose of this seminar series is for each of you to understand how Outbreaks and Anti-Microbial Resistance (AMR) require multidisciplinary approaches to intervention. The seminar series takes place in the Fall (BSPA/BHTA 7800) and the Spring (BSPA/BHTA 7801) semesters, each with different infectious diseases as a focus. BSPA/BHTA 7801 is open to all Ph.D. and M.S. students in the Department of Microbiology & Immunology and other GU graduate students. For this semester, there are two parts to the course one on Outbreaks and the other one on Anti-microbial drug resistance (AMR).

Seemingly without effort, the human brain solves computationally very complex cognitive tasks such as recognizing facial expressions, understanding speech, planning and executing sequences of movements, or choosing actions from a range of competing alternatives to maximize the likelihood of reward in a given situation. How does the brain do it? For instance, how can signals from one hundred million photoreceptors on the retina fit through an optic nerve with just one million fibers? Given that many cognitive tasks are too varied to be coded genetically, how are tasks learned in the “deep” processing hierarchy of the brain, with some 13-odd synapses in the decision pathway? How does the brain learn to associate actions and rewards? How can we make decisions in the face of uncertainty? How does the brain deal with the redundancy of the motor plant, coordinating many joints to reach points in three-dimensional space? How can the brain recall complete memories from partial cues? This class will examine these and related questions, showing how cognitive processing across a variety of areas can be grounded in a small number of key neurocomputational principles. Emphasis will be placed on showing how these principles apply to a variety of cognitive domains, including vision, audition, memory, motor control, and decision making. The goal of this introductory class is to convey the underlying computational ideas with a minimum of mathematical overhead, stressing their usefulness even for areas of cognition where data are still insufficient to constrain quantitative models.

Designed specifically for pre-medical graduate students, this course consists of study skills workshops, interviewing skills workshops, presentations from admissions officers of various medical schools including military medicine, primary care medicine, and osteopathic medicine, as well as presentations on career pathways for specialty and subspecialty medical training. Evaluation of students will be based on attendance and homework assignments.

Cognitive neuroscience is borne out of the marriage of psychology and neuroscience. Advances in functional brain imaging technologies have made possible the characterization of healthy mind/brain relationships in vivo. These relationships have been further elucidated by fractionation of cognition due to brain damage and psychiatric disease. This complementary approach is revealing how the brain produces the mind at an unprecedented pace. The objective of this graduate seminar is to journey through the field via seminal and contemporary articles that embody its interdisciplinary nature. The course is organized around functional domains and we will piece together their biology by examination of processes that mediate the functional experience and clinical conditions, psychiatric and degenerative or acute lesions, that perturb it. Readings will comprise review articles, seminal research papers, and opinion/perspective articles. My hope is that you will leave the course with at least a few insights into the organization of mental function in the brain and some outstanding questions, to ponder in your armchair or laboratory. Permission of instructor required for those who are not enrolled in the Psychology or IPN graduate programs.

Students will be provided primary literature that focuses on neuroscience. This primary literature will be the nidus of in-class discussions of experimental and statistical approaches. We will focus on how the students’ understanding of the approaches affects their interpretation of the data presented in the paper.

This is a 2-credit graduate level course that will be focused on functional and structural imaging approaches to neuroscience. This course will use primary literature and lectures from experts in the imaging field. Topics to be covered include the basics of: microscopy (brightfield, fluorescent, confocal, 2-photon), MRI, fMRI, PET, near infrared spectroscopy and imaging (NIRS), diffusion tensor imaging (DTI), and Electroencephalography/Event Related Potentials (EEG/ERP) and Magnetoencephalography (MEG).

This course is the second semester of a two semester introduction to neuroscience. This semester covers the neural bases of motivation, the chemical, auditory and visual sensory systems, sleep, emotion, language, memory, consciousness, and mental illnesses. The classes include lectures and discussion. Grades for this course will be based on a final exam as well as quizzes and class participation.

This course examines the molecular basis of neurodegenerative diseases, including Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, Huntington’s disease and Lou Gehrig’s disease. The course includes discussion of mutations that cause familial forms of these diseases, and what these familial forms tell us about the sporadic forms. We examine how the genetic findings correlate with the neuropathological lesions identified in these diseases, and explore how these correlate with clinical symptoms. Classes include lectures on the background of biochemical mechanisms that lead to cell loss and discussions of recent papers chosen by students. The classes probe commonalities of the neurodegenerative diseases, selective vulnerability of subsets of neurons, genetic risk factors, and the usefulness and limitations of animal models.

Science and health diplomacies use scientific, technological, and medical (STM) knowledge for collaborations, negotiations, and other activities among countries. These types of diplomacy aim to 1) address common international problems on STM and 2) build effective international partnerships and policies for STM. With greater globalization in business and other activities, the rapid spread of infectious diseases has become eminent, as shown in COVID-19. Thus, implementing comprehensive public health management globally, cross-border STM collaborations, and understanding cultural and national differences are crucial requirements for the world’s leaders.

The course is hands-on, and the course director will work closely with each student, from selecting topics to research methods and presentations in front of vital policy experts. The Project provides an opportunity for students to engage in high-level inquiry focusing on an area of specialization within their professional goals. Capstone projects will be inquiry and practice-centered and draw upon areas of interest to the student from the program, such as environmental health, national security, and regulatory science. All capstones aim to bridge theory and practice and are desired to impact the future professional life of students upon graduation. Through this course, students will develop a solid foundation of “science policy-making” step by step, including critical tools (literature search, use of congress.gov, interview techniques with STM experts) and methods (standards for creating science policy proposals) that need to create a comprehensive bill proposal. The Capstone Project will demonstrate the depth and extent of knowledge of students. Students who take this course learn every step of drafting a bill, from identifying its importance for the nations, including national security, public health, and regulations of emerging technologies to toxic substances based on environmental health and more. They will be matched with a mentor who is an expert in a specific topic a student chooses to pursue in their capstone project. They are expected to complete a substantial bill proposal with detailed references and arguments to support their bill proposal. At the end of the project, students are allowed to publish their work in a peer-reviewed journal. The course would prepare students to be policy advisors at government agencies or private think tank.

The course is designed to gain an understanding of how the brain is affected by drugs of abuse. Lecturers will present different classes of naturally occurring (e.g. morphine, cocaine, alcohol) and chemically synthesized (e.g. prescription drugs, amphetamines, MDMA) drugs, their mechanisms of action and the brain areas that they affect. The lecturers will also provide an overview of the clinical presentations and course of substance use disorders. Moreover, the many factors influencing the development of substance use disorders, including developmental, environmental, social, and genetic factors, will be presented. Animal models of drug reward and addiction will be discussed.

The increased popularity of generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) via online services has important implications for neuroscience research and education. This course will cover AI in relation to: data acquisition; grant writing, manuscript preparation and publishing; and student education. We will discuss how to effectively and responsibly use machine learning in neuroscience, how inadequate use of AI can lead to plagiarism/manipulation risks, funding agency policies in relation to AI, and using machine learning for research-based analysis applications across neuroscience fields.

This course provides a deep dive into how and why cognition changes (or not) from early adulthood into old age, and what might influence these trajectories. We will cover various aspects of cognition in the aging brain including sensory and perception, motor functions, memory and executive functions, language, personality and emotion, and social cognition. In addition, we will examine the neurobiological bases of cognitive decline, how cognitive function can be sustained through brain maintenance, compensation and reserve and the multiple factors (e.g., genetic, sociodemographic, environmental, physiological) that can mitigate age-related decline.

Students will pursue a research practicum each semester. Students meet with a prospective research mentor and develop a 1‐3 page summary of the focus of the work. Proposals are evaluated by a committee, and following approval, the students will intern with the mentor for two semesters. During the semester, students will meet with the course director to monitor progress. At the completion of the internship, students will write a review paper and give an oral presentation on a topic approved by their mentor, which includes their primary data. Students will be evaluated by their mentor, who completes an evaluation form, as well as by the quality of their paper and presentation. Note: This elective is not available to students enrolled in the Science Policy concentration.

Science and health diplomacies use scientific, technological, and medical (STM) knowledge for collaborations, negotiations, and other activities among countries. These types of diplomacy aim to 1) address common international problems on STM and 2) build effective international partnerships and policies for STM. With greater globalization in business and other activities, the rapid spread of infectious diseases has become eminent, as shown in COVID-19. Thus, implementing comprehensive public health management globally, cross-border STM collaborations, and understanding cultural and national differences are crucial requirements for the world’s leaders.

Anatomy of The Nervous System