BCSC 203: Syllabus
Spring 2024
Time & Location
Lab at Meliora 111, Workshops Meliora 178
Section 1: Tues 12:30 - 4:30
Section 2: Wed 12:30-4:30
Section 3: Thurs 12:30 - 4:30
Personnel
David Kornack (Instructor)
Jude Mitchell(Instructor)
Adam Snyder (Instructor)
Workshops (first two weeks and final week April 22-26):
Wed: 6:15-8:15 Brent Ramsammy
Thurs: 6:15-8:15 Andrea Campbell
Friday: 11:30-1:30 Mark Osabutey
Objective & Design
This course introduces various methodologies utilized in neurobiological research and demonstrates principles and concepts covered in NSC 201 (BCS 240). The first part of the course (before spring break) entails structured laboratory experiments focused on neuroanatomical, neurophysiological, and molecular approaches to studying neural organization and function. During this portion of the course, you will learn to prepare laboratory reports in the style of a scientific research paper.
The course concludes with a research project that extends over a period of five weeks. The functional neuroanatomy final project entails behavioral tests and pharmacological manipulations to explore the role of the amygdala in cue conditioning. Students will learn about stereotaxic surgery, behavioral assessments, and tissue processing for quantitative anatomical analysis. This experiment culminates with the production of a final research paper.
Grading
Quizzes will be given at the beginning of the class period and are designed to evaluate whether students have read the lab manual and understand the purpose of the experiments and procedures they will be conducting. The total grade will be distributed as follows::
- Quizzes: In class and sentence scramble 10%
- Neuroanatomy: Results Lab Report 5%
- Stereotaxic Atlas Test 5%
- Neurophysiology: Methods 5%
- Methods/Results Report 10%
- Neurogenesis Project: Introduction and Discussion 15%
- Final Research Project: Final Lab Report 40%
All assignments must be submitted via blackboard on the date specified as MS Word documents (not PDF!). If you experience extenuating circumstances that will result in a late submission, talk to one of the instructors beforehand; a penalty of 5 pts/day will be assessed and beyond 4 days late you are required to contact your instructor to determine if you can still get credit and how you will turn it in.
Most scientific information is communicated in written form. Thus, a significant emphasis in this course is placed on scientific writing. This manual contains detailed information on appropriate format for scientific research papers. In addition, all students should read as a reference "The Science of Scientific Writing" by George D. Gopen and Judith A. Swan (American Scientist, 1990, 78:550-558). Copies are on electronic reserve in Carlson Library.
The grading of your papers reflects assessment of scientific understanding, clarity of presentation, logical argumentation, conformation to accepted structure in scientific writing, as well as general writing skill. In a written document, poor writing often obscures the scientific points being made, thus we cannot cleanly separate conceptual knowledge from writing proficiency. We must emphasize writing: communication skills affect knowledge transfer!
All students must submit a revision for the anatomy and electrophysiology assignments (they will include both a revision and an augmentation of the results section)
Each lab section will begin with a quiz (first 5 minutes of class) to verify you have completed readings before coming to class (10% of total grade). You will not be allowed to take the quiz if you arrive late. If you will miss or be late to class contact your instructor in advance.