Another is to develop exercises that improve your understanding of key principles in neuroscience. A third is to give you some idea of the skills that must be developed to be able to do neurobiological research. A fourth is to give you some idea of what it is like to grapple with neurobiological problems and seek experimental evidence to test hypotheses of how things work. A fifth is to provide you with enough familiarity with some aspects of neurobiological research that you can engage in independent honors research in faculty laboratories. And last, we hope this course will help you decide whether you are suited for a career in neurobiological research.
Neurobiology is a very diverse field.
The nervous system is studied by an incredible variety of techniques in electrophysiology, biochemistry, anatomy, cell biology, molecular biology, biophysics, psychophysics, theoretical modeling, etc. No one is conversant with all these techniques, even those who are experts at some of them. There is no time to even expose you to all of these techniques. Rather, this course will select a few examples, from electrophysiology, cell biology, psychophysics, computer modeling, and anatomy. Experiments will be done on invertebrates, simple vertebrates, and humans, and will cover molecular channel properties, neuronal cell properties, organ and system properties, and behavior.