Postgraduate Course: Principles of Neuroscience (INFR11048)
Course Outline
| School | School of Informatics |
College | College of Science and Engineering |
| Course type | Standard |
Availability | Not available to visiting students |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 11 (Postgraduate) |
Credits | 40 |
| Home subject area | Informatics |
Other subject area | None |
| Course website |
http://www.inf.ed.ac.uk/teaching/courses/pon |
Taught in Gaelic? | No |
| Course description | This course introduces students to the principles of experimental and computational neuroscience, by presenting different topics in neuroscience. The course provides research training to students in the 1+3 yr DTC PhD programme. |
Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
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Co-requisites | |
| Prohibited Combinations | |
Other requirements | First Year DTC neuroinformatics students only. |
| Additional Costs | None |
Course Delivery Information
| Not being delivered |
Summary of Intended Learning Outcomes
1 - critically evaluate primary research literature in neuroscience
2 - evaluate the impact of neuroscience research in a computational context
3 - discuss recent developments in neuroscience and current experimental methodologies and techniques
4 - communicate and summarize scientific papers to a non-specialist audience.
5 - discuss a research topic in detail and form new hypotheses |
Assessment Information
Written Examination 0
Assessed Assignments 50
Oral Presentations 50
Assessment
The course is assessed by a combination of written work and oral presentations.
The written assignment is a critical review of about 4000 words of an experimental paper. The students should explore the context of the paper, critically evaluate its findings and conclusions, and discuss questions raised by the paper. Furthermore, students should suggest follow-up experiments and discuss the computational consequences of the work.
The oral presentation focuses on a particular topic area in Neuroscience approved by the course lecturer, and is double marked by two members of staff in Neuroscience or Informatics. |
Special Arrangements
| None |
Additional Information
| Academic description |
Not entered |
| Syllabus |
During the course the students are exposed to active research area and methodologies in neuroscience. Every week a different research area is discussed. Examples are brain imaging, neuropharmacology, synaptic plasticity, and computational modeling . Each of the ten weeks consist of a combination of lectures by staff, tutorials, reading of papers in the particular area, and self-study. Each week is concluded by presentations in which groups of students present what they found in the literature, discuss implication, future research suggested by the papers, and place the subject in a wider context.
Relevant QAA Computing Curriculum Sections: Not yet available |
| Transferable skills |
Not entered |
| Reading list |
"Neuroscience", by Purves, Augustine, Fitzpatrick, Hall, LaMantia, McNamara, and White. ISBN: 0878936971 (Copies will be provided to DTC students by the DTC.) |
| Study Abroad |
Not entered |
| Study Pattern |
Lectures 50
Tutorials 50
Timetabled Laboratories 0
Non-timetabled assessed assignments 100
Private Study/Other 200
Total 400 |
| Keywords | Not entered |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Dr Jim Bednar
Tel:
Email: |
Course secretary | Miss Kate Weston
Tel: (0131 6)50 2701
Email: |
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