Neuroscience (NSCI)

The course provides a survey of research in neuroscience currently underway at Georgetown University. Each semester the course is given, 16 faculty present the research topic being studied in their laboratories with emphasis on experimental design strategies and choices. Different faculty are chosen to present in different semesters. Students are given a reading list for each topic and the formal presentation by the faculty member is followed by an interactive discussion session. Students prepare a mini-grant proposal on a research topic chosen in consultation with the course director and a faculty member with expertise on the topic.

This is the first semester of the neuroscience core course required of all IPN students. It covers the fundamentals of cellular and molecular neuroscience including cellular neurophysiology, neuropharmacology, signal transduction, and nervous system development, cell death, and regeneration as well as regulatory systems. NSCI507, Critical Readings in Neuroscience, is a coreguisite.

With the facilitation by a faculty member, the students read and critically evaluate current research literature. All students are responsible for reading and “dissecting” every paper; one paper is read and critically analyzed for two weeks. The class is conducted by the students, as in the case of “problem-based [case-based] learning”, where the research article is treated as the “case.” Analysis is conducted by identifying the “given” facts from previous research and the hypotheses that the authors are attempting “to prove.” The methods (Experimental Design) and results are critically examined in the context of the hypotheses. Before evaluating the conclusions, the class generates a list of questions and “Learning Objectives” which they fulfill by researching previous literature prior to the second week. The second session begins with a discussion of the information relevant to the Learning Objectives and the questions raised during the first week are answered before critically evaluating the conclusions of the paper. The faculty member helps to facilitate the discussion and maintain a good balance of student participation.

Study of Neurological Diseases

The second semester of a pair of courses designed to introduce basic concepts in neuroscience and the experimental strategies that have been used to achieve our current awareness of the structure and function of the nervous systems. This spring part of Core consists of two parts, Regulatory Systems and Cognitive Neuroscience: Regulatory Systems - Autonomic and endocrine systems important for maintenance of sleep and waking and homeostasis, and their regulation by limbic system networks. Endocrine and hypothalamic/brainstem control of salt/water balance, thermoregulation, appetite, reproductive behavior, cardiorespiratory function, immune function and circadian rhythms will be discussed and related to regulation of mood and emotion by limbic system circuits. Behavioral regulation, including the concepts of classical and operant conditioning, reinforcement and punishment, conditioned emotional responses, and self-stimulation will be considered in the second part of the course. Cognitive Neuroscience – This section of the course discusses the neural bases of higher cognitive functions, including attention, executive function, language, social and affective cognition, learning and memory, and changes in cognitive processing during development and aging. The module also introduces students to methods in modern cognitive neuroscience, including neurophysiology, neuropsychology and functional imaging in experimental animals and humans. The module further includes a introducing students to human psychophysical experiments.

With the facilitation by a faculty member, the students read and critically evaluate current research literature. All students are responsible for reading and “dissecting” every paper; one or more papers are read each week. The methods (Experimental Design) and results are critically examined in the context of the hypotheses. Material mirrors topics covered in Systems and Cognitive Neuroscience to provide a "deeper dive" into the literature relevant to topics covered in lectures. This is the Spring equivalent of NSCI-507.

This course will allow the student to develop an understanding of the skills and ethical questions important for a successful and satisfying career in science.

Anatomy of The Nervous Sytstem

This course designed to be taken by PhD students conducting research in the second year in the program. They should be generating data from their own experiments and are planning on pre-doctoral grant submissions.

Review and discussion of primary literature focusing on synaptic transmission, molecular events in LTP, and molecular signal transduction.

This course covers the basic principles of pharmacology that neuroscientists/neuropharmacologists need to understand principles of drug action, and pharmacotherapy. Major topics include pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics, major classes of drug targets, and signaling cascades. This course runs for the first half of the semester and shares lectures with PHAR-611.

Functional brain imaging techniques are important tools for both neuroscientists and clinicians. This course focuses on functional MRI (fMRI) with an emphasis on understanding the relationship between the underlying neuronal changes and the signal changes measured using fMRI. Additional topics include experimental design, fMRI data analysis, and interpretation of results. The course includes both lectures and hands-on labs. Students conduct, analyze, and write-up an fMRI experiment that they have designed and implemented. Textbook to be used in the course is: Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Second Edition by Scott A. Huettel, Allen W. Song, and Gregory McCarthy Publisher: Sinauer Associates, Inc.; 2nd edition (December 31, 2008) ISBN-10: 0878932860 ISBN-13: 978-0878932863 http://www.amazon.com/Functional-Magnetic-Resonance-Imaging-Second/dp/0878932860/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1296314199&sr=8-1

This course is designed to provide PhD students with an overview of core topics in Neuroscience of Language (NoL) and exposure to clinical populations and methods important to NoL research. This is the first course in a two-semester sequence. The first semester will likely cover the brain basis of speech perception and production, concept knowledge and semantics, lexical retrieval, and syntax. Communication disorders affecting these abilities will be discussed as well. Diversity, equity, and inclusion issues important to NoL research will be discussed throughout the course.

This tutorial is designed to provide an overview of the application of brain imaging to the study of human cognitive and sensorimotor processes. Principles of experimental design, statistical analysis and interpretation will be reviewed briefly at the beginning of the semester. For the remainder of the semester journal publications of functional neuroimaging studies employing fMRI or PET will be reviewed and discussed. These are selected to cover the functional organization of the visual system, including the processing of objects, words and faces. These will also be discussed in the context of brain development and clinical populations. A tour of the imaging facility and a data analysis laboratory will also take place. Weekly meetings will consist of students preparing a brief ½ page summary and critique of a particular paper and presenting these to the group. For three or four of the weekly meetings, outside speakers will be asked to present their own paper and then students will have an opportunity to discuss it directly with the author. At the end of the semester students will have to design their own study and present their proposed research to the group.

Seemingly without effort, the human brain solves computationally very complex cognitive tasks such as recognizing facial expressions, understanding speech, planning and executing sequences of movements, or choosing actions from a range of competing alternatives to maximize the likelihood of reward in a given situation. How does the brain do it? For instance, how can signals from one hundred million photoreceptors on the retina fit through an optic nerve with just one million fibers? Given that many cognitive tasks are too varied to be coded genetically, how are tasks learned in the “deep” processing hierarchy of the brain, with some 13-odd synapses in the decision pathway? How does the brain learn to associate actions and rewards? How can we make decisions in the face of uncertainty? How does the brain deal with the redundancy of the motor plant, coordinating many joints to reach points in three-dimensional space? How can the brain recall complete memories from partial cues? This class will examine these and related questions, showing how cognitive processing across a variety of areas can be grounded in a small number of key neurocomputational principles. Emphasis will be placed on showing how these principles apply to a variety of cognitive domains, including vision, audition, memory, motor control, and decision making. The goal of this introductory class is to convey the underlying computational ideas with a minimum of mathematical overhead, stressing their usefulness even for areas of cognition where data are still insufficient to constrain quantitative models. Course Description Credits: 2 Time: Tuesdays, 1:15pm – 4pm Dates: Class starts on 9/1/2020, until 12/1/2020 Location: Neuroscience Meeting Room, Research Building, WP-07 Course Director: Maximilian Riesenhuber, PhD, Professor of Neuroscience (mr287@georgetown.edu) Office: New Research Building, WP-12 Open to graduate and advanced undergraduate students from neuroscience, psychology, cognitive science, computer science, and related disciplines. Undergraduate students should contact the course director for permission. Prerequisites Basic knowledge of neuroscience and/or psychology. Basic calculus and linear algebra. Willingness to learn whatever background is lacking. Contact the course director if unsure. Course Structure and Requirements This is a 2-credit course, but classes meet for three hours each, which allows for off-weeks when we won't meet, see the schedule below and the course schedule on the Canvas site. I highly recommend you add the Canvas online calendar to your personal calendar. Each class will consist of a lecture by Dr. Riesenhuber on the topic du jour and student-led presentations and discussions of research papers (4 papers of 20-30 minutes of presentation & discussion each), see “Schedule and Papers” below (note that the “Optional background papers” are optional further readings for those interested in particular topics). These presentations should include critical analyses of the methods and results, along with a discussion of the implications of the findings and three questions to be discussed with the class. Presenters should feel free to discuss questions about their papers with the course director in advance of their presentation. All class members will be expected to have read these papers before class and to come prepared with relevant questions/comments/ideas for the discussion. In addition, there will be (optional) computer exercises on key topics in the form of Jupyter notebooks that students can work on outside of class. A final project will be due on December 1. The final project will take the form of a 15-minute presentation on an original computational neuroscience project of the student’s choosing. The project should aim to test (either experimentally or through simulations or a combination thereof) a computational hypothesis about the neural bases of a particular cognitive function. The presentation (to be emailed to Dr. Riesenhuber at mr287@georgetown.edu by midnight on December 1 – each day late takes off 5% of final project score) needs to include specific aims of the research project, background information about the topic studied, and a description of a series of experiments/computational studies to address the Specific Aims. The presentation must include a discussion of what conclusions could be drawn depending on various outcomes of the experiments. An outline of the project (1 page of Specific Aims, due November 17, but earlier submission is encouraged if students already have a project idea) must be approved by Dr. Riesenhuber so that students can receive feedback on the appropriateness of their chosen topic before working on the presentation. Participants’ grades will depend on 4 paper presentations (40%), participation in class discussions (20%), and the final project (40%).

Studying the immune cells in the nervous system, what they are and what they do in normal and pathological states

This course examines and explores the decision making used when choosing the multitude of parameters used in structural and functional MRI. The course builds on NSCI-521 (Functional MRI: Theory and Practice) or similar to explore how choices in MRI sequence parameters alter the raw images and in turn interact with various data analysis pipelines leading and ultimately the results of these experiments. Topics that will be explored include: optimizing tissue contrast (T1, T2, T2*, and PD) for various structural analysis pipelines, comparison of these to novel structural sequences, determining optimal choice of echo time for BOLD fMRI, exploring how multi-band fMRI acquisitions affect results, determining whether more directions or higher spatial resolution is preferable in DTI, and similar topics. Students are encouraged to suggest topics.

A paper-based course which will cover a variety of topics in neurodegenerative disorders through student-lead, faculty facilitated discussions of primary literature.

Review in-depth of primary literature surrounding several topics of current interest in synaptic transmission. The first topic is selected by the instructor while the other topics are selected by the students. see http://neuroscience.georgetown.edu/courses/NSCI601-09.htm

Advanced Neuroscience I is part of the first year core curriculum for the Interdisciplinary Program in Neuroscience. In Advanced Neuroscience I, PhD-level students will hear lectures from expert neuroscientists that will address advanced cellular and molecular neuroscience concepts in depth.

Individualized instruction on advanced topics in Neuroscience by faculty in the IPN program. Students need to set up tutorials by contacting the faculty member they want to serve as their tutor, outlining the plan of study, and filling out the appropriate form to register the tutorial with approval from the IPN Curriculum Chair.

Individualized instruction on advanced topics in Neuroscience by faculty in the IPN program. Students need to set up tutorials by contacting the faculty member they want to serve as their tutor, outlining the plan of study, and filling out the appropriate form to register the tutorial with approval from the IPN Curriculum Chair.

Individualized instruction on advanced topics in Neuroscience by faculty in the IPN program. Students need to set up tutorials by contacting the faculty member they want to serve as their tutor, outlining the plan of study, and filling out the appropriate form to register the tutorial with approval from the IPN Curriculum Chair.

Individualized instruction on advanced topics in Neuroscience by faculty in the IPN program. Students need to set up tutorials by contacting the faculty member they want to serve as their tutor, and filling out the appropriate form to register the tutorial.

Individualized instruction on advanced topics in Neuroscience by faculty in the IPN program. Students need to set up tutorials by contacting the faculty member they want to serve as their tutor, and filling out the appropriate form to register the tutorial.

Teaching in one of various courses.

Teaching in one of various courses.

Laboratory rotation.

Laboratory rotation.

Thesis research leading to a doctoral dissertation.