Course Description: 

This seminar course will provide students with a current perspective on various topics in neuroscience including the role of synaptic transmission in regulating cellular and behavioral plasticity; circadian clock function and the sleep/wake cycle; tools for probing neural function and circuitry mapping such as optogenetics and peptide neurotoxins; neurochemical mechanisms contributing to drug reward and addiction; and the process of translating basic biomedical science to new therapeutics, with an emphasis on small molecule drugs.

Everyone will be responsible to be discussion leader for at least one speaker.

Each Speaker will have two discussion leaders.
1st on list will present paper #1
2nd on list will present paper #2
1st on list will also be the host and introduce the speaker on Tuesday.

Discussion Leaders are responsible for:
Introducing the general research direction and career pathway of the speaker, Give good background for the research topic to be discussed in the seminar, which should be broader than the two papers, Choose the most important figures to discuss critically, Discuss the impact of the paper, Discuss the new progress being made on the topic since the papers, Ask your fellow students to participate and discuss.
Grades will be based on your presentations, participation in discussions, attendance at lunches and final paper.

Final paper:
Write a News & Views style article (Nature) of about 1000 words to discuss one of the research topics discussed by a speaker. This short article aims to summarize the main research findings, to discuss them in the context of the drug discovery research field at large, and to put the study in the context with the current status of the field. Other topics and formats are also possible, subject to PRIOR approval of the Course Directors.

Final paper due date: March 11, 2013.   

Course Directors: William J. Joiner and Jerold Chun

Course Coordinator: Pat Luetmer X24107