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This is an intensive eight-week laboratory and lecture course focusing on the neural basis of behavior. The course is intended for graduate students, postdoctoral researchers, and independent investigators. Limited to 20 participants.
This course provides broad training in modern approaches to the study of behavior. Through a combination of lectures, exercises, and projects, students investigate behavior at the molecular, systems, and organismal levels using state-of-the-art techniques. The eight weeks are divided into two-week cycles, providing participants with an in-depth familiarity with several different experimental model systems. In the first cycle, students study a simple invertebrate model system to develop general experimental skills in electrophysiology, neuroanatomy, and quantitative analysis of physiological and behavioral data. In subsequent cycles, students are given the opportunity to choose among a set of different preparations, so that they can hone the course to meet their own training and career goals. The list of experimental model systems is updated year-to-year, but always includes a diverse array of vertebrate and invertebrate preparations, chosen to illustrate key concepts and novel techniques in the field.
Each experimental preparation is taught by a team of leading experts, and topics include: the cellular basis of pattern generation, the development and neuromodulatory control of cell and circuit specificity, vocal learning and plasticity, sensory processing and feature detection, sensory-motor integration, spatial memory, and social communication. The laboratory provides access to many complementary methods including intracellular recording; single-cell dye-injection; patch-clamp; whole-cell voltage and current clamp; analysis of synaptic transmission and plasticity; cell culture; neural genetics; quantitative behavioral methods; and computational analysis. Students spend a portion of each cycle designing, performing, and analyzing the results of their own project. These projects offer an exceptional opportunity to combine newly learned skills in a creative manner.
In addition to the daily course lecture, the course sponsors a weekly seminar, given by invited lecturers and distinguished Scholars-in-Residence.
This course is supported in part by grants from the National Institute of Mental Health, and the Grass Foundation.
2007 Course Faculty & Lecturers:
Wulfila Gronenberg, University of Arizona
Bert Hoelldobler, Arizona State University
Bruce Johnson, Cornell University
Paul Katz, Georgia State University
James Knierim, University of Texas Medical School at Houston
Masakazu Konishi, California Institute of Technology
Wyatt Korff, Caltech
Rudiger Krahe, McGill University
Joel Levine, UTM
Gaby Maimon, Caltech
Leonard Maler, University of Ottawa
Michael Mauk, University of Texas at Austin
Jennifer Mehren, The Rockefeller University
Karen Mesce, University of Minnesota
Christopher Moore, MIT
Brian Norris, CSUSM
Donata Oertel, University of Wisconsin
Michael Reiser, Howard Hughes Medical Institute
Alex Reyes, New York University
Jason Ritt, MIT
Marc Schmidt, University of Pennsylvania
Jennifer Siegel, University of Texas-Med School, Houston
Jonathan Simon, University of Maryland
Wolfgang Stein, University of Ulm
Esther Sternberg, NIH
Lidia Szczupak, Universidad de Buenos Aires
James Truman, University of Washington
Larry Trussell, Oregon Health & Science University
Leslie Vosshall, The Rockefeller University
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