NST IB Neurobiology

Neurobiology is the result of an interdepartmental collaboration between four biological departments:

  • Experimental Psychology
  • Pharmacology
  • Physiology, Development & Neuroscience
  • Zoology

The course aims to provide a unified approach to the teaching of neurobiology at second year level.

Timetable

There are three lectures each week, on Thursday, Saturday and Tuesday, at 12 noon, delivered in the Pharmacology Lecture Theatre 3. The lecture timetable can be downloaded as a PDF file

In addition there are practical classes each week, organized as one session of 3 hours (on either Thursday or Tuesday afternoon, 2–5 pm). You should have been allocated to one each of these sessions at the NST IB registration; if not, please contact Mrs Anita Shelley in the Histology Classroom (Physiological Laboratory).

Lectures

The lecture course begins with an overview of the brain and of neuroscience, and then covers the electrical and chemical properties of individual neurons. It next examines the mechanisms underlying development of the nervous system, and the origin of neuronal types and neuronal architecture. The major sensory systems are studied in turn: vision, hearing, olfaction and taste, and somatosensation and pain. The motor system is explored in detail, and then the integration of sensory and motor functions is covered. The course next returns to development, investigating the way that connections between neurons develop and are regulated. It then deals with the modulation of synaptic activity, which leads on to learning and memory. Finally, human cognition is considered, including motivation and emotion, and ‘higher’ functions of the nervous system, including language.

Practical classes

A wide range of experimental techniques and approaches will be explored in the practical classes, including: neural activity in frog nerve and synapse, and in cockroach sensory nerves; computer simulation of neural activity; neural development in zebrafish and frog; human sensory and motor function; brain anatomy and histology; brain imaging; and neuropsychological assessment. One aim of the practical classes is to provide hands-on experience of a variety of the experimental techniques that are used in modern neurobiology: from microscopy, through single-neuron recordings, to stimulation and extracellular recordings from your own nerves and muscles, and finally to psychophysical measurements of human sensory and cognitive performance.

Many of the practical classes will be held in either the Experimental Classroom or the Histology Classroom in the Physiological Laboratory, but a number will be held in classrooms in other departments, where the appropriate apparatus is available.

Detailed information is available for staff and current students on Camtools including the course handbook, lecture and practical timetables, lecture handouts and the practical books.