This course will familiarize students with advances in our understanding of the clinical features and pathogenesis of a wide range of neurodegenerative diseases, including Alzheimer's disease and other dementias, prion diseases, Parkinson's disease and atypical parkinsonisms, neurodegenerative ataxias, motoneuron diseases, degenerative diseases with chorea, iron and copper disorders, and mitochondrial diseases. Students will analyze original research reports on a range of proposed pathological cellular processes that may represent steps in cell dealth pathways leading to neuron loss seen in these diseases. Significant emphasis will be placed on the fast-expanding fieldexploring genetic contributions to neurodegenerative disease, as identification of genetic mutations pathogenenic for familial neurodegenerative diseases has been a major driving force in neurodegenerative research and pointed researchers towards essential molecular process that may underlie these disorders. Strategies for therapeutic intervention in the management, prevention, and cure of neurodegenerative disease will be addressed.

This seminar will focus on the significant role of animal models in the investigation of the pathophysiology of a variety of human neuropsychiatric disorders as well as in the development of treatments for these disorders. The course will focus on the use of genetically modified mice in the investigation of Autistic Spectrum Disorders (ASD), anxiety and affective disorders, schizophrenia and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), with an emphasis on the limitations of such models. Class time will consist of short lectures and open discussions via student-led presentations. Emphasis will be placed on the critical analysis of primary literature.

In a world where humans can't seem to agree on much of anything, there is one thing that still unites us: we love music. Why should abstract sequences of sounds give us such strong emotional reactions? Why indeed should they give us any emotional reaction at all? On every continent, today and throughout history, there is not a single human culture that has ever been described that does not make music. Within cultures, music is so ubiquitous that we actually have clinical terms (amusia and musical anhedonia) to describe people who don't understand or don't enjoy music. And yet, despite this ubiquity, the evolutionary origin and purpose of music remains unknown. Not only do people everywhere make music - they do so in fundamentally similar ways. All over the world people divide rhythm into twos and threes; all over the world people divide the frequency spectrum logarithmically, in octaves; with a very few exceptions, we divide octaves into no more than 12 steps, and we use subsets of 5-7 of these tones at a time. Not only that, but many cultures seem to have independently arrived at the same sets of 5-7 notes. These are probably not coincidences. If not coincidence, then what? In this course we look for explanations to these and other questions about music by looking at something that humans all over the globe have in common: the brain. Using readings from the primary literature and classic texts, supplemented with software exercises and analysis, we will see how many of the age-old mysteries and questions of music can be either answered or in some cases amplified by a consideration of brain mechanisms. Thinking about music in the context of brain function also provides a biological and evolutionary rationale not just for why music is the way it is, but why it should exist at all. More broadly, this course is an example of what can (and cannot) be accomplished by addressing aesthetic and philosophical questions as scientific and empirical ones. Prerequisite: BIBB 109 and prior musical instruction, any instrument

Both clinical observations and popular culture support the idea that food might have addictive properties. Similar to the narrative for addictive drugs,individuals and the media use terms like "food addict" and "chocoholic", and refer to cravings, symptoms of withdrawal, and escalating patterns of eating that might be viewed as evidence of tolerance. The class will discuss chocolate and coffee as examples of so-called "addictive" food and compare their effects and mechanisms with those of alcohol and nicotine, two substances with well-characterzed addictive properties. Furthermore, we will discuss why some forms of overeating are thought to reflect an addictive behavior. Considering the social dimension of alcohol,coffee, and tobacco consumption and the fact that large numbers of the population consume them together, we will also discuss the possible interactive effects of combinationsof these psychoactive substances on mood and disease state. At the end of the course the student will become familiar with the diagnostic criteria for substance dependence, the anatomy and physiology of the brain circuits involvedin reward processing and drug depencence, and the neurotransmitter systems involved.

This course examines the neurobiological processes underlying autism spectrum disorders. In this seminar course, we will first examine the brain phenotypes associated with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD), in addition to investigating the genetic and environmental contributions to the etiology and pathophysiology of ASD. After an initial examination of the clinical literature and research, we will focus on animal models of ASD, including those of syndromic causes of autism (Rett Syndrome, Tuberous Sclerosis, Fragile X) and investigate changes in neurotransmitter systems and synaptic dysfunctions in the brain of these models.

All organisms respond to chemicals in their environment. This chemosensation guides diverse behaviors such as a feeding, avoiding predators, sex, and social interactions. This course will provide a broad survey of our current understanding of taste and smell, focusing on insect and rodent model systems as well as studies in humans. The course will begin with a review of chemical signal transduction mechanisms, and build to an exploration of the cortical integration of chemical signals and chemical guided behaviors. Class time will emphasize primary literature, discussion, and student presentations. The goal is to reach an integrated understanding of the physiology and psychology of chemical sensory systems. In the process, students will learn to read and critically evaluate data from primary research articles.

This seminar will focus on how visual information is processed by the eye and the brain to produce visual perception. These issues will be explored through lectures and student presentations of journal articles, combined with Matlab- based tutorials and exercises. The course requires no prior knowledge of visual processing, math, or computer programming.

This course will introduce the student to the functioning of the autonomic nervous system (ANS), which is critically involved in the maintenance of body homeostasis through regulation of behavior and physiology. The course will begin with a review of the basic anatomy and physiology of the ANS including the sympathetic, parasympathetic and enteric divisions. The mechanisms by which the ANS regulates peripheral tissues will be discussed, including reflex and regulatory functions, as will the effect of drugs which modulate ANS activity. The role of the ANS in regulating behavior will be addressed in the context of thirst, salt appetite and food intake.

This course is designed to examine the various roles played by the nervous and endocrine systems in controlling both physiological processes and behavior. First, the course will build a foundation in the concepts of neural and endocrine system function. Then, we will discuss how these mechanisms form the biological underpinnings of various behaviors and their relevant physiological correlates. We will focus on sexual and parental behaviors, stress, metabolism, neuroendocrine-immune interactions, and mental health.

The study of the neuronal systems that underlie human perception, memory and language; and of the pathological syndromes that result from damage to these systems.