Graduate School of health and Medical Sciences

Basic Neuroscience
Provider: Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences

Activity no.: 3236-24-00-00
	Enrollment deadline: 01/11/2024

Date and time	13.11.2024, at: 09:15 - 08.01.2025, at: 05:00
Regular seats	21
Course fee	8,760.00 kr.
Lecturers	Jakob Balslev Sørensen
ECTS credits	5.00

Contact person	Anette Studsgård Winsløw E-mail address: studsgaard@sund.ku.dk

Enrolment Handling/Course Organiser	PhD administration E-mail address: phdkursus@sund.ku.dk

Aim and content This course is free of charge for PhD students at Danish universities (except Copenhagen Business School), and for PhD Students from NorDoc member faculties. All other participants must pay the course fee. Anyone can apply for the course, but if you are not a PhD student at a Danish university, you will be placed on the waiting list until enrollment deadline. This also applies to PhD students from NorDoc member faculties. After the enrollment deadline, available seats will be allocated to applicants on the waiting list. Learning objectives A student who has met the objectives of the course will be able to: 1. demonstrate insight into the anatomy and function of the nervous system across all levels of organization. 2. understand the most used methods to investigate the nervous system. 3. understand, analyze and discuss contemporary neuroscience literature. Content • The morphology and functions of neurons and glia cells. o The techniques for mapping neuronal connections and networks o Neuronal transcriptional and translation activity, and axonal transport of proteins o Demonstration of mRNA and proteins in neurons and glia cells. • The passive and active electrical properties of neurons o The origin of the resting membrane potential o The molecular and electrical basis for the action potential • The properties of synaptic transmission and plasticity o Transmission at the chemical and electrical synapse. o The basis for excitation and inhibition, and their interaction. o Short-term synaptic plasticity: facilitation and depression o Long-term changes in synaptic strenght and implications for learning. • The use of animal models to study normal and pathological neuronal signaling o Small genetic model systems o Mammalian genetic models o Models based on other principles (e.g. lesioning of specific brain areas) o Possibilities and limitations in modeling human neurological and psychiatric disease • Layout and Function of the monoaminergic systems o Anatomy of the dopaminergic, serotonergic and noradrenergic systems o What does dopamine signal: hedonia, learning, and incentive salience? o Molecular composition of dopaminergic signalling o Drugs of abuse: mechanisms of action o Serotonine and motor control, mood disorders etc. • The emerging roles of glia cells o Types of glia and their function. o Roles of glia cells in LTP o signaling processing in glia • The physiology of micro-, mesoscale-circuits and systems o Principles of sensory processing and motor control. o Circuit design by synaptic properties, intrinsic neuronal membrane properties and connections, examplified by, e.g., CPGs and cortical circuits. o methods for behavioral and physiological analysis of small circuits and brains, e.g. optical recordings of ensemble behavior of neurons, neuronal synchronization and rhythmicity, optogenetics, EEG, connectomics, genetics. • The higher cortical functions o Techniques for assessing higher cognitive processes o Principles of macro-structural cortical organization with an emphasis on the visual system. o Brain mechanisms of emotion, memory and attention o Brain Plasticity Participants The course offers a broad overview of the nervous system, and common physiological techniques used to study it at different levels of organization (the single neuron/cell, smaller and larger circuits, the whole brain). The course is NOT suitable for those Ph.D.-students, who already have a solid neuroscience background (e.g. neuroscience masters). The course trains the students in reading contemporary neuroscience research literature. It aims at those PhD students who need a broad neuroscience course, for instance students doing a PhD within neuroscience, but lacking a broad neuroscience background. Or students doing a PhD in an adjacent field, whoe want to expand on their neuroscience background. The course is offered also as a Master’s course on the Human Biology Education (the course is called ‘Neuronal Signalling’ at the Master’s level). Ph.D.-students, who have previously followed the Master’s course cannot follow the Ph.D.-course. Relevance to graduate programmes The course is relevant to PhD students from the following graduate programmes at the Graduate School of Health and Medical Sciences, UCPH: Neuroscience Language English Form Lectures, demonstration exercises, literature seminars and discussions. Course director Jakob Balslev Sørensen, Professor, Department of Neuroscience, jakobbs@sund.ku.dk Teachers Jakob Balslev Sørensen, Professor, Department of Neuroscience. Claire Francesca Meehan, Associate Professor, Department of Neuroscience. Kenneth Lindegaard Madsen, Associate Professor, Department of Neuroscience. Jens Christian Rekling, Associate Professor, Department of Neuroscience. Jean-Francois Perrier, Associate Professor, Department of Neuroscience. Ole Kjærulff, Associate Professor, Department of Neuroscience. Andreas Toft Sørensen, Associate Professor, Department of Neuroscience. Cai Changsi, Assistant Professor, Department of Neuroscience. Florence Kermen, Associate Professor, Department of Neuroscience. Carmelo Bellardita, Associate Professor, Department of Neuroscience. Dates 13. Nov 2024 (9:15-18:00), 20. Nov 2024 (9:15-15:00), 27. Nov. 2024 (9:15-16:00), 4. Dec 2024 (9:15-15:00), 9. Dec 2024 (13:15-15:00), 11. Dec 2024 (9:15-14:00), 18. Dec 2024 (9:15-16:00), 8. Jan 2025 (9:15-15:00). Course location Panum Building and Maersk Tower, University of Copenhagen, Blegdamsvej 3, 2200 Copenhagen N Registration Please register before 1. November 2024 Expected frequency This is a yearly course that has been running since 2013 If the course is recurrent and held at specific times each year, or you already know when the course is scheduled to be held again, you can state it here. Seats to PhD students from other Danish universities will be allocated on a first-come, first-served basis and according to the applicable rules. Applications from other participants will be considered after the last day of enrolment. Note: All applicants are asked to submit invoice details in case of no-show, late cancellation or obligation to pay the course fee (typically non-PhD students). If you are a PhD student, your participation in the course must be in agreement with your principal supervisor.

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