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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 with funds provided by
National Institute of Mental Health, NIH
Howard Hughes Medical Institute
The Grass Foundation
International Brain Research Organization
2009 Course Faculty & Lecturers:
James Angstadt, Siena College
Sarah Bottjer, University of Southern California
Michael Brecht, Humbult University Berlin
Dirk Bucher, University of Florida
Ronald Calabrese, Emory University
Guan Cao, University of Texas
Catherine Carr, University of Maryland
Maurice Chacron, McGill University
Melissa Coleman, The Claremont Colleges
Gerald Downes, University of Massachusetts, Amherst
Eric Fortune, The Johns Hopkins University
Kathy French, University of California, San Diego
Jorge Golowasch, New Jersey Institute of Technology
Anne Hart, Harvard Medical School
Rolf Karlstrom, University of Massachusetts, Amherst
William Kristan, University of California, San Diego
Katrina MacLeod, University of Maryland
Len Maler, University of Ottawa
Mark Masino, University of Minnesota
Mike Mauk, University of Texas
Javier Medina, University of Pennsylvania
Chris Moore, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Farzan Nadim, Rutgers University
Michael Nitaback, Yale University
Brian Norris, California State University, San Marcos
Cathy Rankin, University of British Columbia
Jason Ritt, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Jennifer Siegel, University of Texas
William Spain, University of Washington
Wolfgang Stein, University of Ulm
Karel Svoboda, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Janelia Farm Research Campus
Lidia Szczupak, University of Buenos Aires
Dan Tracey, Duke University
Daniel Wagenaar, California Institute of Technology
Angela Wenning, Emory University
Benjamin White, National Institutes of Health
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