Two lecture courses constitute the core curriculum in the first year:

NEU 555 Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience (6 credit hours)* *Course is crosslisted with BIO. Neuroscience students need to register for the NEU prefix. Course is only offered in the fall semesters.

NEU 556 Systems Neuroscience (4 credit hours)* *Course is crosslisted with BME. Neuroscience students need to register for the NEU prefix. Course is only offered in the spring semesters.

The core courses are designed for students who already have a background in basic Neuroscience. The course sequence that has two major goals. One is to expose students to advanced, cutting-edge research from all levels of analysis in Neuroscience - that is, from molecular through systems-level processes, including how those processes affect behavioral and cognitive processes. A second goal will be to introduce students to application of basic and practical knowledge in biomedical settings.

The courses consist of modules led by faculty members who specialize in those areas of research. Each module is one to two weeks in length, consisting of both lecture and translational' components. Modules are taught in ASU classrooms and in facilities at ourClinical Partner institutions. In both types of locations, part of each module may consist of tours of laboratories and clinical facilities as well as discussions with clinicians and neurosurgeons. This exposure in particular will help to provide an overview of major interdisciplinary projects that are currently underway at ASU and at the Clinical Partner Institutions. It will also provide an opportunity for students to observe firsthand how team-oriented translational projects can be implemented to help solve problems in biomedicine that have a direct societal impact.

This list of ASU courses is subject to change. Courses may not be available each semester or academic year. New courses are being developed and you are encouraged to propose course and seminar topics to participating faculty.

BIO 598: Neuroscience, Ethics and the Law (3) Meets for 15 weeks (full semester). Instructors: Betsy Grey (Law) and Jason Robert (SOLS)

BIO 611: Current Topics in Responsible Conduct of Research (RCR) in Life Sciences (1) Meets for 5 weeks. Instructor: Karin Ellison

Bio 611: Current Topics in Responsible Conduct of Research (RCR) in Life Sciences (1) Meets for 15 weeks (full semester). Instructors: Betsy Grey (Law) and Jason Robert (SOLS)

BME 451: Cell Biotechnology Laboratory (4) Mammalian cell culture techniques including mouse embryonic stem cells, the use of biorectors, cell fractionation and digital video imaging.

BME 520: Bioelectric Phenomena (3) Study of the origin, propagation and interactions of bioelectricity in living things; volume conductor problems, mathematical analysis of bioelectric interactions, and uses in medical diagnostics.

BME 521: Neuromuscular Control Systems (3) Overview of sensorimotor brain structures. Application of nonlinear, adaptive, optimal and supervisory control theory to eye-head-hand coordination and locomotion.

BME 524: Fundamentals of Applied Neural Control (3) Fundamental concepts of electrical stimulation and recording in the nervous system with the goal of functional control restoration.

BME 532: Prosthetic and Rehabilitation Engineering (3) Analysis and critical assessment of design and control strategies for state-of-the-art medical devices used in rehabilitation engineering.

BME 551: Movement Biomechanics (3) Mechanics applied to the analysis and modeling of physiological movements. Computational modeling of muscles, tendons, joints, and the skeletal system, with application to sports and rehabilitation.

BME 568: Medical Imaging (3) CT, SPECT, PET and MRI. 3-D in vivo measurements. Instrument design, physiological modeling, clinical protocols, reconstruction algorithms and quantitation issues.

BME 598: ST Integrative Neuroscience (3)

BME 598: ST Research Ethics/Law (2-3)

BIO 451: Cell Biotechnology Laboratory (4) Mammalian cell culture techniques, including mouse embryonic stem cells, the use of bioreactors, cell fractionation, and digital video imaging.

BIO 465: Neurophysiology (3) Detailed treatment of cellular and organismal neurophysiology and nervous system function.

BIO 467: Neurobiology (3) Introduction into basic nervous system anatomy and function.

BIO 508: Scientific Data Presentation (2) Techniques necessary for presentation of scientific data used in journal publications, grant proposals, and visual presentations.

BIO 515: Science, Technology and Public Affairs (3) Explores the political, economic, cultural, and moral foundations of science and technology policy and governance in democratic society.

BIO 550: Advanced Cell Biology (3) Applies contemporary electron microscopic and biochemical/molecular techniques for studying eukaryotic cell functions. Mechanisms of intracellular protein trafficking.

BIO 551: Biomembranes (3) Structure and function of biological membranes, emphasizing synthesis, fluidity, exocytosis, endocytosis, and cell responses to hormones and neurotransmitters.

BIO 591: Responsible conduct of research (3) The class is designed to introduce graduate students to ethical issues in the research environment. Topics will include skills needed for success in graduate school and beyond, ethical issues in data handling, authorship, human genetics, conflict of interest, mentoring, experimental animals and human subjects, and other issues. Faculty facilitators will participate in discussing case studies and students will develop case studies based on their own experiences.

BIO 598: Developmental Neurobiology (6)* *Course prefix will change to NEU 557 beginning Fall 2011 This course is designed to examine the Development of the Nervous System. The class starts with neural induction, birth order, NS system axis formation, then goes to pathfinding, dendritic growth, synaptogenesis. This is followed by synapse elimination and programmed cell death. Finally, excitability homeostasis, neural circuit development, and Rett and Fragile X will be covered as two examples for neurodevelopmental diseases.

BIO 569: Cellular Physiology (3) Emphasizes the molecular basis for cell structure and function.

APM 530: Mathematical Cell Physiology (3) Alternate Fall or Spring Mathematical modeling of dynamical aspects of cell physiology. Diffusion, membrane transport, intracellular calcium channel kinetics, calcium oscillations and waves.

APM 531: Mathematical Neuroscience I (3) Fall Mathematical modeling of electrochemical processes in nerve cells. Dendritic modeling, dendritic spines and synaptic plasticity, bifurcation analysis of excitable membrane models, deterministic and stochastic methods for threshold dynamics and bursting, relaxation oscillations. You should have taken a previous graduate-level PDE course.

APM 532: Mathematical Neuroscience II (3) Spring Mathematical modeling of systems neuroscience. Network dynamics, coupled phase oscillators, central pattern generators, neural coding, learning and memory. You should have taken advanced ordinary differential equations and also taken APM 530 or APM 531 prior to enrolling in this course.

PSY 426: Neuroanatomy (4) fall Structure and function of mammalian brain, including sheep brain dissection (cross-listed with 591).

PSY 425: Biobasis of Behavior (3) spring

PSY 470: Psychopharmacology (3) select semesters

PSY 512: Advanced Learning (3) select semesters

PSY 524: Advanced Physiological Psychology (3) select semesters Contributions of physiological processes and brain function to fundamental behavioral processes.

PSY 528: Sensation and Perception (3) select semesters Principles of sensory and perceptual processes, emphasizing research literature.

PSY 573: Psychopathology (3) - fall Theory and research relating to the contribution of psychological, social, physiological, and genetic factors to the development and persistence of abnormal behavior.

PSY 591: Neuroanatomy (4) fall Structure and function of mammalian brain, including sheep brain dissection (cross-listed with 426).

PSY 591: Neurobiology of Learning and Memory (3)

PSY 591: Neuropsychopharmacology (3) select semesters

PSY 591: Grant Writing and Professional Development (3) select semesters

PSY 624: Clinical Neuroscience (3) select semesters Examines the biological underpinnings of psychological disorders at the molecular, cellular, and system levels (e.g., schizophrenia, depression, anxiety). Lecture, pro-seminar.

PSY 555: Experimental and Quasi-Experimental Designs for Research (3) select semesters Reviews research techniques. Analyzes lab and field research; applications to specific topics.

SHS 513: Neurophysiology of the Auditory System (3) fall or spring Focuses on the neurophysiology of the normal auditory system and on changes associated with hearing loss. Lecture, discussion, demonstrations. Prerequisite: instructor approval.

SHS 519: Auditory Pathologies and Disorders (3) Familiarizes students with major diseases, pathologies, and disorders of the human auditory system. Lecture, discussion, case studies, demonstrations, field trips, seminar, student.

SHS 520: Otoneurologic Applications in Audiology (3) Advanced otologic, neurologic, and audiologic approaches in the differential diagnosis of peripheral and central disorders of the auditory system. Lecture, lab, discussion, case studies, seminar, student presentations.

SHS 545: Speech Perception by the Hearing Impaired (2) Focuses on the perception of speech by normal-hearing and hearing-impaired listeners. Lecture, discussion, case studies, seminar, student presentations. Prerequisite: instructor approval.

SHS 555: Cochlear Implants The design and function of implantable neural prostheses for the restoration of hearing in adults and children.

SHS 567: Neural Bases of Communication Disorders (3) Neuroscience and its application to matters of normal and disordered communication.

SHS 575: Aphasia and Related Neurogenic Language Disorders (3)Assessment and treatment of acquired neurolinguistic impairment.

SHS 576: Neuromotor Speech Disorders Neurophysiology, diagnosis, and treatment of motor speech disorders; theory and models of normal and disordered speech production.

SHS 581: Right Hemisphere Syndrome, Traumatic Brain Injury, and Dementia (3) Studies the nature, characteristics, and clinical management of cognitive and communicative impairments accompanying right hemisphere damage, TBI, and dementia.

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Neuroscience (PhD) | School of Life Sciences

Do you want to be happier? That's a pretty silly question--who doesn't want more happiness? Fortunately, there are simple things we can all do to raise our happiness quotient that are actually supported by scientific research. And even though brain scans show that the happiest person on earth is Tibetan monk Matthieu Ricard, you can do each of these things every day. No need to travel to a remote mountaintop, sit in meditation for hours, or even quit your day job.

UCLA neuroscientist Alex Korb, Psychology Today blogger and author of The Upward Spiral: Using Neuroscience to Reverse the Course of Depression, One Small Change at a Time, has studied many of the ways we can gently tweak our attitudes, outlooks, and behaviors to bring more happiness into our lives. Here are some of his top recommendations:

There's plenty of scientific evidence to support the notion that being grateful makes us happier. As Korb notes, it increases dopamine, a neurotransmitter associated with our reward centers, and also the pleasurable effects of taking drugs. In other words, feeling grateful gives you a natural high. Not only that, feelings of gratitude increase your serotonin levels, which is what antidepressants also do. No wonder gratitude is such a mood-booster. And, Korb says, even if you're feeling very down and can't come up with a single thing you're grateful for, the mere act of searching will give you some of these effects by leading you to focus on the good aspects of your life.

My simple approach to daily gratitude is to mentally list three things I'm grateful for before getting out of bed in the morning. That helps set me up for a better mood throughout the day. But any time is a good time for gratitude.

Our brains are hard-wired to pay more attention to negative rather than positive information, and this applies at least as much to our evaluation of ourselves as it does to anything else. But focusing on the things we're proud of has many brain benefits. For one thing, pride is a powerful brain-stimulating emotion, and focusing on happy memories (assuming your accomplishments made you happy) is another way to release serotonin in your brain. And, Korb notes, "Several studies have shown that reflecting on your positive qualities is a type of self-affirmation that actually strengthens your abilities to change bad habits." So focusing on what you've done right might actually help you accomplish more good stuff in the future.

Making a decision, choosing a goal or setting an intention all have a positive effect on the brain, decreasing stress and anxiety and increasing problem-solving ability, according to Korb. And--this will be difficult for some people (including me)--but your brain will benefit most if you make a good-enough decision sooner, rather than wait for the most complete information in order to make the best possible decision.

Research suggests that the ability to make decisions quickly (and then make them right after the fact if need be) is one of the ways entrepreneurs' brains differ from everyone else's. And, according to Korb, making a good-enough decision activates a part of the pre-frontal cortex that makes you feel more in control. And choosing to do something you want to do will not only make you happier. Research shows that the mere act of having chosen will make you enjoy whatever you choose more. In other words, choose what you love and you'll love what you choose.

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3 Simple Ways to Make Yourself Happy Every Day According to Neuroscience - Inc.com

For Bryan Johnson, the founder and CEO of neuroscience startup Kernel, the question is when, not if, we all have computer chips inside of our brains. Kernel, founded last fall with more than $100 million of Johnsons own money, is trying to better understand the human brain, so that we may one day program it to improve.

The company is focusing first on medical applications, to gain a deeper understanding of the diverse and complex ways the brain can fail. Eventually, Johnson would like to move toward augmenting the organ to make us smarter and healthier and pave the way for interfacing directly with computing devices.

Kernel wants to improve human cognition

Johnson, who made his fortune selling his payments company Braintree to PayPal for $800 million in 2013, doesnt have past experience in neuroscience. He is, however, riding a new wave of interest from Silicon Valley. There is a growing fear, among some futurists and other Silicon Valley elite, that humans will develop a crippling dependence on machines and software that continue to rapidly accelerate beyond our capabilities and understanding. This is a fear not necessarily shared by the neuroscience community, which is less focused on enhancing human intelligence, at least right now, than they are on treating people with Alzheimer's and helping paraplegics regain movement.

Yet the goal of Kernel, ultimately, is to allow humans to outcompete or at least co-evolve alongside machines by becoming a little digital themselves. Kernel has made some big claims: promising to improve neurodegenerative disease, for instance, to help pave the way for improving cognition. But for the last decade, brain implants have only dealt with movements, and have typically only been used in paraplegic people beyond experimental medical trials and stimulation devices for conditions like epilepsy.

We know if we put a chip in the brain and release electrical signals, that we can ameliorate symptoms of Parkinson's, Johnson tells me. This has been done for spinal cord pain, obesity, anorexia what hasnt been done is the reading and writing of neural code. Johnson points to the programming of yeast cells and CRISPR gene editing as examples of breakthroughs that apply the principles of computing to living organisms. What I wanted to do was work with the brain the same way we work with other complex biological systems like biology and genetics.

Of course, our understanding of genes is much farther along that our understanding of the brain. Frankly, the technologies we have for interacting with the brain are blunt tools at best, says Blake Richards, a neuroscientist and assistant professor and the University of Toronto who focuses on how the brain modifies itself and learns from experience. Most neuroprostheses involve dropping a big array of electrodes into the brain.

The technologies we have for interacting with the human brain are blunt tools at best.

This makes Johnsons vision sound both difficult and distant, with a laundry list of scientific obstacles standing in its way. He will need more money hes currently declining outside investment but may take venture capital funds in the future. The project also requires time, perhaps decades, to achieve anything close to Kernels cyborg vision, which currently resides only in fiction. But despite these hurdles, Johnson is intent on starting now with Kernel as one of the early leaders in an emerging hybrid field, one that blends the cash-flush, experimental spirit of Silicon Valley with the most cutting-edge neuroscience research.

Brain hacking, so to speak, has been a futurist fascination for decades. The idea that we will, inevitably, have chips in our brains and ways to interface directly with computing devices has been a staple of the most seminal cyberpunk works, from William Gibsons Neuromancer to Masamune Shirows Ghost in the Shell to the Wachowskis The Matrix. The reality, however, is far more complicated and dangerous. Very few people in the world have multi-electrode arrays implanted inside their skulls today. Those who do only undergo the invasive surgery required as a last resort, to alleviate the symptoms of severe neurological conditions or as a way to restore movement to paralyzed patients or allow amputees to move prosthetic limbs.

Richards is skeptical of any company promising advancements that require invasive surgery. People are only going to be amenable to the idea [of an implant] if they have a very serious medical condition they might get help with, he adds. Most healthy individuals are uncomfortable with the idea of having a doctor crack open their skull.

Johnson is first to admit the difficulties Kernel must reckon with to even begin working on these types of technologies, principally the idea of working exclusively with patients who have severe neurological conditions. He says that working with brain implants is a requirement right now. Theres no tech that exists in the world that allows you to be outside the brain and gain access to critical data, he says. You need to be inside the brain, inside the skull. Down the line, Kernel would like to explore less invasive ways of working with the human brain.

Yet even then, moving beyond the medical field and into the realm of improving cognition requires a significant amount of scientific progress, Richards points out. We understand very little about the human brain compared with what we understand about the mouse brain, he says. Almost all of our data on the human brain comes from epileptic patients, which is problematic for understanding how the brain works at large.

You need to be inside the brain, inside the skull.

To really understand the brain, Richards adds, will take years of work. Well need to hone how we gather data from the brain itself a challenging task with its own complications and improve our understanding of how the brain carries out core functions. From there, researchers will still have to work within the confines of ethical medical trials and regulatory boundaries that restrict how and to what effect we can work on human brains. As it stands today, Richards says, we dont even yet have have a thorough grasp of how the brain does everyday tasks like storing information we can recall later or letting us conjure conversations from years in the past. The computations and algorithms carried in the brain are still largely mysterious to us.

These challenges havent stopped Johnson from setting his sights on neuroscience as the next frontier. While companies have in the past tried to make commercial headway in the field of neuroprosthetics, Johnson is focusing instead on investing in research that may yield new insights into the brain. He may be one of the first to pour a Silicon Valley fortune into the field, but he suspects others will follow in his quest to transform the brain as a computing platform, even if it takes years of research and billions of dollars of investment.

For Johnson, those stipulations are just part of the deal. Money has always been a means to an end for the 39-year-old entrepreneur. After he sold Braintree to PayPal, Johnson decided that what he did next had to have the maximum positive impact possible. So he began talking with friends, experts, and fellow tech industry contemporaries, trying to discover where and for what his wealth could be best used to explore.

After talking with hundreds of people, Johnson says he decided that neuroscience had the most potential. Intelligence is the most precious and powerful resource for humans, he says. Weve always built these tools, starting with the rock, thermostat, calculator. Now we have AI. Our tools and [digital] intelligence are increasing at great velocity. On the flip side, human intelligence is just about the same as its always been.

Intelligence is the most precious and powerful resource for humans.

So Johnson enlisted the help of some of the best scientists in the field to start looking into neuroprosthetics. These are devices implanted within the skull that mimic, substitute, or assist functions of the brain, ranging from controlling the motor cortex to preventing the onset of seizures. Johnsons idea, at least at first, is to have his team at Kernel explore and better understand core brain functions like information recall, memory, and neuronal communication.

To do this, the company is developing its own hardware and software to try and alleviate the devastating effects of neurological and degenerative diseases like epilepsy, dementia, and Alzheimer's. Its being aided greatly by the research and expertise of Theodore Berger, a professor of biomedical engineering at the University of Southern California. Back in 2002, Bergers research proved that it was possible to use software and mathematical modeling to replicate the hippocampus, which is the part of the brain responsible for memory and its eventual degradation. Nearly a decade later, Bergers lab at USC used a chip implanted inside the brain of rats to restore lost memory and improve information recall.

Now, Berger splits his time between USC and Kernel as the startups acting chief science officer. Kernel itself, now a little more than 20 employees, operates out of Los Angeles, near Bergers lab where the team can collaborate with the biomedical engineers there and observe the scientists work. Kernel plans to gather data from human trials, with an implantable medical device not unlike the one used in Bergers animal trials back in 2011.

To help Kernel and aid in its longer-term efforts, the company has also scooped up Kendall Research Systems (KRS), a spin-out of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology that focuses on neural interface devices for use in research and clinical trials. As part of the deal, announced today, Kernel is bringing on KRS founder and CEO Christian Wentz. Johnson has also courted some other big names in the neuroscience field from the MIT community. Ed Boyden, a professor of biological engineering and brain and cognitive sciences at MIT, has signed on as chief scientific advisor. And Adam Marblestone, a neuroscientists who focuses on improving data collection from the brain, is now Kernels chief strategy officer, having worked in the past with Boydens Synthetic Neurobiology Group.

I cant agree more than these things are all possible.

I cant agree more that these things are all possible, says Chad Bouton, a biomedical engineering veteran of the Battelle Institute and now the vice president of advanced engineering and technology at the Feinstein Institute of Medical Research. What I often say is we are trying to figure out how to crack the neural code in the human body. If we can crack the neural code, then we can unlock so many doors.

Bouton says that weve already made substantial progress in figuring out how the motor cortex drives the function of limbs. We can crack the code in the motor area of the brain, he says. But if we could crack the code in the rest of the nervous system, and understand these messages passing back and forth, we would be able to better diagnose and treat diseases.

In the future, however, Johnson has grander ambitions beyond medical treatment. He wants to use these implants and hopefully, one day, make the process of receiving them less invasive to augment human intelligence. He envisions a world where the human brain is made smarter, faster, and more creative. Most importantly, however, Johnson sees a world where humans, and not just machines, improve over time.

Artificial intelligence may soon displace millions of jobs and render obsolete the livelihoods of everyday workers or, in the minds of some more outlandish technologists, induce a doomsday event for the human race. This is another driving force behind the creation of Kernel.

I think if humanity were to identify a singularly thing to work on, the thing that would demand the greatest minds of our generation, its human intelligence, Johnson says, specifically, the ability to co-evolve with artificial intelligence.

It is for this reason that Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk has begun putting together a team of his own to explore the possibilities of human augmentation, first for medical purposes and inevitably for human enhancement. Last week, Musk dropped hints of his interest in human enhancement by telling a crowd at the World Government Summit in Dubai by saying that we will probably see a closer merger of biological intelligence and digital intelligence. His new venture, however, remains relatively under wraps for now, with a public announcement sometime soon.

Elon Musk is also working on human augmentation

As far as I know, Elon and I are the only two pursuing this from a commercial perspective, Johnson says. Thats fantastic. Im so happy that hes in the game. Johnson notes that the number of calls hes received from interested investors has increased since low-key chatter of Musks plans began circulating in the Bay Area late last year.

Even in the neuroscience community, there is a general consensus that enhancing both AI and human cognition are complementary goals. The current success in AI came out because of their mimicking of the ways the brain operates, says Richards, who himself studied AI before transitioning to neuroscience research. Theres a building cross-talk between AI and neuroscience whereby AI takes inspiration from neuroscience and neuroscience takes inspiration from AI. Slowly but surely were working toward a broad theory of intelligence, both artificial and natural.

Whether Kernel helps the humanity achieve that broad theory and goes even further beyond will largely depend on how it decides to use Johnsons money, and whether the hurdles of scientific progress impede the founders bold vision of the future. Were entertained by Black Mirror, but outside of that, were not discussing [human intelligence] as a populace, Johnson says. Im trying to get the best minds of our generation in government and tech and media to talk about this problem. Brain science is the new rocket science.

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Kernel is trying to hack the human brain but neuroscience has a ... - The Verge

On March 9, the Emmet ONeal Library and UAB will come together to hold their second Neuroscience Caf.

Created by leadership with the Comprehensive Neuroscience Center at UAB, the program features a series of talks organized by Mountain Brook residents Dr. Peter King, professor of neurology at UAB, and Dr. Laura Volpicelli-Daley, assistant professor of neurology at UAB.

The series was designed to inform communities on disease topics, King said, and is held at various local libraries. The upcoming lecture at EOL will cover Substance Abuse and Addiction: From Molecular Mechanisms to Therapeutics, and is led by Dr. Cayce Paddock, director of addiction psychiatry at UAB, and Dr. Jeremy Day, a UAB neuroscientist who is studying the regulation of genes involved in addiction. Other topics in the Mountain Brook series include depression, concussions in football, sleep disorders, autism, Alzheimers disease and Parkinsons disease.

These brain disorders have a high and often devastating impact on patients and their families, King said. UAB has a wealth of expertise in these brain disorders, both at the clinical and research level, and the caf is an opportunity to inform the community about these disorders and the exciting progress that has been made in understanding the causes and advancing new treatments.

The caf features a presentation designed to be understood by anyone with an interest in neuroscience without having a background in it, King said, but suggests people at high school age or older will benefit the most.

The caf starts at 6:30 p.m., and no registration is required. Subsequent Neuroscience Cafs will discuss autism on April 13 and Alzheimers on May 11. For more information, contact the Emmet ONeal Library at 879-0459.

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Neuroscience Caf brings science talks to Emmet O'Neal ... - Village Living