Neuroscience

Box 1953, Providence, RI 02912
Phone: (401) 863-3548
Email: Neuroscience@brown.edu

The undergraduate concentration in neuroscience offers a program of study in the fields of knowledge important to an understanding of brain function. Neuroscience is an interdisciplinary program bringing together neurobiology (anatomy, physiology, biochemistry, molecular biology, development) with elements of psychology and cognitive sciences as well as mathematical and physical principles involved in modeling neural systems.

Courses - 2007-08

NEUR 0010 - The Brain: An Introduction to Neuroscience
NEUR 0650 - Biology of Hearing
NEUR 1020 - Principles of Neurobiology
NEUR 1030 - Neural Systems
NEUR 1040 - Developmental Neurobiology
NEUR 1600 - Experimental Neurobiology
NEUR 165 - Structure of the Nervous System
NEUR 1660 - Cognitive Neuroscience
NEUR 1670 - Neuropharmacology and Synaptic Transmission
NEUR 1680 - Computational Neuroscience
NEUR 1930 - Molecular Mechanisms of Synaptic Development
NEUR 1970 - Undergraduate Independent Study

NEUR 2010/2020 - Graduate Postseminar in Neuroscience
NEUR 2030 - Advanced Molecular/Cellular Neurobiology
NEUR 2110 - Seminar in Higher Coritcal Function
NEUR 2150 - Cells and Circuits of the Nervious System
NEUR 2120 - Topics in Visual Physiology
NEUR 2940 - Historical Foundations of the Neurosciences
NEUR 2970 - Preliminary Exam Preparation
NEUR 2980 - Graduate Independent Study
NEUR 2990 - Thesis Preparation
NEUR (MED I) - Human Neurobiology

Facilities and Opportunities

Research and training are carried out in the laboratories of the program's faculty, which are well equipped for state-of-the-art studies of the nervous system. Some of the methods currently in use include: patch clamping and single ion channel analysis, in situ and in vitro electrophysiological analysis of sensory and motor systems, light and electron microscopy, two-photon microscopy, high-demensional simultaneous microelectrode recording, high performance liquid chromatography, microdialysis, behavioral neurophysiology, psychophysical and behavioral analysis, functional MRI, and mathematical modeling and computer simulation of neural systems.

Faculty - Who We Are and What We Do

Carlos Aizenman, PhD, Assistant Professor. The development of the visual system.

Gilad Barnea, PhD, Assistant Professor. Molecular biology and mouse genetics to map and characterize the neuronal circuits used by the brain for processing olfactory information.

David Berson, PhD, Professor. Neural mechanisms of vision.

Rebecca Burwell, PhD, Associate Professor, Psychology. Examine the contribution of brain regions adjacent to the hippocampus to memory and to other higher cognitive functions.

Barry Connors, PhD, Professor. Neural circuitry of cerebral cortex.

John Donoghue, PhD, Professor. Neural control of motion.

Anna Dunaevsky, PhD, Assistant Professor. Cellular mechanisms of neural plasticity.

Justin Fallon, PhD, Professor. Molecular basis of synapse formation and Muscular Dystrophy.

Diane Lipscombe, PhD, Associate Professor. Physiology of neuronal ion channels.

Mayank Mehta, PhD, Assistant Professor. Neural mechanisms of learning and memory.

Michael Paradiso, PhD, Professor. Information processing in visual cortex.

Robert Patrick, PhD, Associate Professor. Neuropharmacology of psychoactive drugs.

Jerome Sanes, PhD, Professor. Mechanisms underlying motor control and learning.

David Sheinberg, PhD, Associate Professor. Neural analysis of objects and scenes

Andrea Simmons, PhD, Professor, Psychology. How the nervous system develops, matures, and reorganizes in response to damage.

James Simmons, PhD, Professor. Bat echo location.

John Stein, PhD, Lecturer. Creating and sustaining a partnership that will provide teachers with the content knowledge, tools, and skills they need to prepare students to think, read, write, and speak as scientists.

Recent Student Projects

  • Role of alternative splicing in protein-protein interactions of the XIB Calcium Channel sub-unit.
  • The role of the parahippocampal region in configural learning and memory.
  • Motor skill learning and synaptic plasticity in adult rat motor cortex.
  • Flight reconstruction and complex behavior of echolocating bats in field recordings.
  • Endothelial injury in Alzheimer's disease.
  • Aging and working memory.
  • Natriuretic peptide regulation of CSF composition and volume control by the choroid plexus epithelial cells.
  • Investigation of visual perception via chrome neoral recordings in non human primates.
  • Studies of echo location in the big brown bat.
  • Seeing with sound: echolocation in bats and dolphins.