Neuroscience Track Core Course

The goal of the Neuroscience Track Course (NTC) is to introduce students to the fundamental concepts of neuroscience and provide a general overview of the structures, functions, and building blocks of the brain-from molecules and neuronal development to systems and behavior. Students will learn the conceptual ideas behind classic and novel discoveries and gain a general understanding of the essential methodological strategies required for these breakthroughs. The content of this course has been selected to provide a general neuroscience backbone that is needed in all areas of neuroscience and thus will be a constant in the neuroscience track.

Important: The NTC is divided into 2 semester courses: Neuroscience 1 & Neuroscience 2. While it is possible to take only one of the courses, we encourage students to take both sections as they are designed as sequential courses.

Each Neruoscience course is divided into 2 half-semester segments. Course grades will be determined by exams at the end of each segment. These will consist of either written exams and/or essays.

Neuroscience 1
Module 1 (Fall 1): From Molecules to Excitable Membranes. Membranes, neurons, brain anatomy. Channels, transporters, receptors, excitable membranes, axons, synapses, synaptic transmission, exocytosis, neuromodulation, excitation and inhibition, dendrites, dendritic integration, synaptic plasticity. (Danzl, Shigemoto, Jonas, Siegert)

Module 2 (Fall 2): Developmental and Molecular Neuroscience. Function of microglia and astrocytes. Neurogenesis and neuronal development. Neuronal wiring. Development of the nervous system. Cellular signaling. Autonomic Nervous System. (Kicheva, Hippenmeyer, de Bono, Sweeney, Siegert)

Neuroscience 2

Module 1 (Spring 1): Sensory and Motor Systems. General principles of sensory processing and systems (adaptation, efficient coding, topographic organization, cell types, information theory), and an introduction to the visual, auditory, olfactory, gustatory, and somatosensory systems. Overview of motor control systems (motor cortex, basal ganglia, cerebellum, superior colliculus, spinal cord). (Joesch, Vogels, Cziczvari, Sweeney)

Module 2 (Spring 2): Higher brain functions in health and disease. Neuromodulatory systems, learning and memory, spatial encoding, brain oscillations, emergent properties (e.g. place cells, grid cells), sleep. Brain function in health and disease - autism, schizophrenia, epilepsy, aging. (Shigemoto, Csicsvari, Hetzer, Novarino, Vogels)

Target group: Students interested in affiliating with a Neuroscience lab.

Prerequisites: Completing the Neuroscience Track Core Course in the Fall, or a similar background.

Evaluation: None

Teaching format: None

ECTS: 6 Year: 2024

Track segment(s):
Core curriculum

Teacher(s):
Martin Hetzer Tim Vogels Lora Sweeney Maximilian Jösch Gaia Novarino Ryuichi Shigemoto Jozsef Csicsvari

Teaching assistant(s):
Aaradhya Vaze Anuj Patel