This Web document is updated twice a year, on or about the first day of registration for Fall and Spring semesters.

6020  Methods in Neuroscience (2)

6030  Current Issues in Neuroscience (1 to 3)
   Conducted in a journal club format where each semester involves faculty-guided analysis and discussion of current and fundamental literature in a topical area using student presentations. Topics range from development, brain imaging, membrane biophysics, channels, sensory transduction, etc.

6040  Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience (4) Cross listed as BIOL 6040, PHYSL 6040.
   The bulk of this course will focus on the cellular mechanisms of signaling. The topics to be covered include basic neuronal/glial morphology and cell biology; neurostructural mapping and identification; basic neural development; cytoskeleton-structure and biochemistry; basic membrane biophysics; cable properties; ion channel biophysics and molecular biology; synaptic transmission; neurotransmitter gated ionotropic systems; and neurotransmitter gated metabotropic systems.

6050  Systems Neuroscience: Functioning of the Nervous System (4) Cross listed as BIOEN 6430.
   Understanding how the brain works is one of the deepest and most exciting challenges confronting modern science. This course will explore systems-level functioning of the nervous system, beginning with relatively concrete issues of sensory coding and motor control, and expanding into more abstract, but equally important, higher-order phenomena, such as language, cognitive and mood disorders, states of arousal, and experience-dependent modifications of neuronal operations.

6060  Neuroanatomy (3) Cross listed as ANAT 7710.
   Anatomy of the human nervous system (designed for graduate students).

6100  Visual Neuroscience I (3) Prerequisite: NEUSC 6040 or permission of instructor.
   Advanced course addressing optics, photochemistry, biochemistry, biophysics, anatomy, neurochemistry, circuitry, and electrophysiology of visual processing at the level of the vertebrate retina.

6200  Didactic Lectures in Pain and Functional Disorders (1)
   Lectures by experts in the field include topics from Philosophy to Neurosurgery, Yoga to neuroablation, holistic treatment to pharmacotherapy all focused on the mechanisms and treatment of Pain and related disorders (including Fibromyalgia, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, neuropathic pain, chronic back pain, irritable bowel syndrome, interstitial cystitis, headache, and others). All lectures are scheduled by the Director of the Pain Research Center, Dr. Richard Chapman, and Dr. Shane Brogan, Director of the Chronic Pain Center.

6245  Cellular and Molecular Neurophysiology Laboratory (2) Cross listed as BIOL 6245, PHYSL 6245.
   Electrophysiology and video microscopy study of nerve, muscle, and synapse. Meets M-F 8AM-5PM for one week before the start of Fall Semester.

6250  Molecular Biology Laboratory (2)
   An accelerated course designed to introduce graduate students to basic laboratory techniques used to study DNA, RNA, and proteins. Techniques covered include solution preparation, PCR, digestion of DNA with restriction enzymes, DNA cloning, bacterial transformation, plasmid minipreps, in vitro transcription, electrophoretic separation of DNA, RNA, and proteins, and computer analyses of DNA and protein sequences. Meets M-F 8AM-5PM for one week.

6300  Computational Neuroscience (3) Prerequisite: BIOEN 6003 and 6040 or permission of instructor.
   This course focuses on use of computational models to explore classical and modern problems in neurophysiology, including the integrative properties of single neurons, representation of sensory stimuli in single neurons and neuronal populations, pattern representation and completion in neural networks, and mechanism of learning and adaptive behavior. Students are expected to perform a substantial amount of programming in problem sets and course projects.

6500  Advances in Vision Research (3)
   Meets with BIOEN 6610. A landscape course surveying the major problems in vision research and ophthalmology, integrating basic principles of visual pathways, significant unsolved problems in the field, clinical correlations, and profiles of key research projects.

6900  Neuroscience Rotations (1 to 2)
   Neuroscience rotations are the prime mechanisms by which students become exposed to working laboratory science and attempt to match up with prospective mentors. All students complete three rotations in the first year as part of their formal training and to find prospective mentors.

7750  Developmental Neurobiology (3) Cross listed as ANAT 7750.
   Cellular and molecular biology of nervous system development.

7790  Light Microscopy and Digital Imaging (1.5) Cross listed as ANAT 7790.
   Covers theory and practice of biological light microscopy, including sample preparation and staining, fluorescence and confocal microscopy, digital image analysis and quantitation, and figure preparation. A class project uses data from students' own research.

7950  Professional Skills/Grant Writing (2) Cross listed as PHYSL 7950.
   This course will provide a brief overview of professional skills for graduate students and postdoctoral fellows, and will focus on how to write grant proposals in the biomedical sciences.

7970  Thesis Research: Ph.D. (2 to 13)

7980  Faculty Consultation (2)
   For PH.D. candidates finishing last semester on thesis.