Howard Hughes Medical Institute Lab Course in Neurobiology

 

Course Name: Psychology 320: Advanced Experimental Psychology: Experimental Neurobiology

                        Biology (number to be determined)

 

Hours: 4 credit 6 hour course

 

Textbooks:

            Harrington, Mary; The Design of Experiments in Neuroscience, Thomson and Wadsworth, Australia, 2006

            Bear, Mark F., Connors, Barry W., Paradiso, Michael A.; Neuroscience Exploring The Brain, Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, second edition, Baltimore, 2001.

 

Course Overview:

            This laboratory and lecture based course will focus on the structural and physiological basis of neuronal functioning. Lectures will provide the necessary conceptual background as well as the empirical and practical information necessary for the experimental exercise for the week. The main concepts the course will focus on are the relationship between neuronal structure and its role in neuronal functioning. The course will be organized around three lecture/laboratory modules where the students will gain an understanding of neuronal anatomy (module I), physiology (module II) and their interrelationship (module III: Computational Modeling). Students will be expected to write up and submit each laboratory exercise.

 

Prerequisites: Psychology 213W, Psychology 243 or Biology 373 or permission of the instructor.

Module I: Anatomy

Learning Objectives:  1. Understand regional differences in brain anatomy.

                                    2. Identify the basic building blocks of the nervous system.

            Learn to section tissue and mount and coverslip specimens and perform simple

                        staining (Nissl stain).

            Draw neurons using camera lucida pre stained Golgi impregnated

            Analyze morphological features - soma size and shape, dendritic geometry.

 

Module II: Physiology

Learning Objectives:   1. Understand the physiological basis of action potential generation

                                                and propagation.

                                    2. Observe changes in synaptic strength.

            The preparation is being determined - most likely a non-mammalian preparation (cockroach).

           

Module III: Computational Modeling

Learning Objective:     1. Understand the influence of neuronal morphology on its

                                                physiology.

            Using the freely available simulation tools HHism and NEURON the students will use the drawing made in the first module along with their understanding of the physiology of neurons to create models of neurons and see how dendritic geometry and channel distribution can influence physiology and synaptic events.

 

Equipment Acquisitions:

Microscopes: 8  Olympus BX 41 light microscopes - 4x, 10x, 40x objectives, camera lucida attachment for each setup, 1 60x oil objective for collective use.

                        8 stereoscopes for dissections

Amplifiers:

            3 AM-Systems 1700 - 4 Channel AC amplifiers

            2 AM-Systems 2400 patch clamp Amplifier

            8 AM-Systems 2100 Stimulus isolation unit

 

            8 National Instruments A-to-D systems (Analog-to-Digital Cards, BNC interface

                                    block and Labview software (10 user license).

           

Future Acquisitions:

            Narashige manual micromanipulators

            9 Computers, PowerPoint projector, laser printer (technology fee request pending)

           

 

Equipment on Hand from other sources:

            Racks to mount physiology equipment

            Diagnostic equipment for physiology setups

            Oscilloscopes

            Histology cutting equipment (2 freezing stage microtomes, 1 vibratome, 1

                        microtome, 2 cryostats)

           

 

Course Role in Neuroscience at Queens College:

            Starting with the fall semester of 2005 students may register for a new undergraduate major in Neuroscience. This course may serve as the capstone course for the new major (to be determined) consistent with the General Education Task Force recommendations. The Neuroscience major has a required research component where the students have to conduct a senior thesis in a faculty member's laboratory and thus acquiring these skills in the classroom environment will help the students with their future research experiences. There is a newly organized Queens College Center for Neuroscience and Queens College houses the CUNY PhD program in Neuropsychology as well as several faculty members in the PhD program in Neuroscience. All of these entities as well as the new laboratory course in Neurophysiology dovetail well and speak for the enthusiasm for Neuroscience and particularly the involvement of undergraduates in Neuroscience research at Queens College.

Assessment:

            Students will be asked to fill out surveys at the completion of the course to evaluate course materials and exercises. Students in the course who are also Neuroscience majors will be tracked to see what career paths they choose.