NEUROSCIENCE
College of Arts and Sciences, Interdisciplinary Program
John Roach Center for the Liberal Arts (JRC) LL56, (651) 962-5030
Hankerson (PSYC); Heimovics (BIOL); Husak (BIOL); Illig (BIOL); Prichard (PSYC); Tong (BIOL); Vetter (BIOL); Wolfe (PSYC)
Neuroscience Department Web Site
The Neuroscience Program is an interdisciplinary, research-intensive major leading to the Bachelor of Science degree. Training in neuroscience requires a broad foundation in the natural sciences, and the major requires students to complete foundational courses in Biology, Chemistry, Mathematics and Psychology. Flexibility in course selection at the upper division level allows specialization in concert with student interest. Students who successfully complete this major will be well-prepared for graduate study in neuroscience or in related disciplines. The Program is administered in consultation with the Biology and Psychology Departments. Students choosing this major may not take a second major in either Biology or Psychology, or a minor in Biology.
Neuroscience Honor Society
Nu Rho Psi, the national Neuroscience Honor Society encourages professional interest and excellence in scholarship, particularly in neuroscience. The St. Thomas chapter was established in 2007. To qualify, students who must have a 3.2 or higher overall grade point average and a 3.5 or higher grade point average in specific neuroscience courses.
Major in Neuroscience (B.S.)
Required Foundational Courses (32 credits)
- BIOL 207 Genetics, Ecology, and Evolution (4 credits)
- BIOL 208 Biological Communication and Energetics (4 credits)
- BIOL 209 Biology of Sustainability (4 credits)
- CHEM 111 General Chemistry I (4 credits) and CHEM 112 General Chemistry II (4 credits) or CHEM 115 Accelerated General Chemistry (4 credits)
- STAT 220 Statistics 1 (4 credits)
- MATH 113 Calculus 1 (4 credits) or MATH 109 Calculus with review II (4 credits)
- PSYC 111 General Psychology (4 credits)
Plus Introductory Neuroscience Core Courses (8 credits)
- PSYC 212 Research Methods (4 credits)
- NSCI 301 Principles of Neuroscience (4 credits)
Plus Advanced Neuroscience Core Courses, (8 credits, including at least four from * courses)
- BIOL 330 Animal Behavior (4 credits)
- BIOL 354 Neurobiology (4 credits)*
- PSYC 322 Sensation and Perception (4 credits)
- PSYC 401 Physiological Psychology (4 credits)*
Plus Electives (20 credits)
Elective credits should be chosen from the selected courses and should reflect the student’s academic or professional goals. Courses completed to fulfill the Advanced Neuroscience Core requirements do not double-count as electives. Students may complete up-to four (4) credits of NSCI 389 for elective credit. Students must complete at least eight credits from the Neuroscience Elective category other than NSCI 389. Only one of PSYC 301, PSYC 315, PSYC 407, MATH 114 and STAT 320 may count for the degree.
Neuroscience Electives (must complete at least two):
- NSCI 310 Cognitive Neuroscience (4 credits)
- NSCI 320 Human and Comparative Neurology (4 credits)
- NSCI 330 Neuropharmacology (4 credits)
- NSCI 340 Computational Neuroscience (4 credits)
- NSCI 350: Neurobiology of Social Behavior (4 credits)
- NSCI 360: Neurobiology of Drug Use and Abuse (4 credits)
- NSCI 389 Research* (2 or 4 credits)
- NSCI 398 Topics (4 credits)
Biology Electives:
- BIOL 328 Environmental Toxicology and Helth (4 credits)
- BIOL 330 Animal Behavior (4 credits) * If not counted as Adv Core
- BIOL 340 Principles of Biochemistry (4 credits)
- BIOL 349 Comparative Anatomy and Physiology I (4 credits)
- BIOL 353 Microscopic Anatomy (4 credits)
- BIOL 354 Neurobiology (4 credits) *If not counted as Adv Core
- BIOL 360 Genetics (4 credits)
- BIOL 365 Developmental Biology (4 credits)
- BIOL 371 Cell Biology (4 credits)
- BIOL 375 Endocrinology (4 credits)
Psychology Electives:
- PSYC 301 Psychopathology (no lab) (4 credits)
- PSYC 315 Cognition (no lab) (4 credits)
- PSYC 322 Sensation & Perception (4 credits)
- PSYC 323 Learning & Memory (4 credits)
- PSYC 365 Health Psychology (4 credits)
- PSYC 401 Physiological Psychology (4 credits)
- PSYC 407 Seminar in Behavioral Neuroscience (no lab)(4 credits)
Allied Electives (no more than one may count for the degree):
- CHEM 201 Organic Chemistry 1 (4 credits)
- CISC 130 Introduction to Programming and Problem Solving in the Sciences (4 credits)
- MATH 114 Calculus 2 (no lab)(4 credits)
- PHYS 109 Physics I or PHYS 211 Physics I with Calculus (4 credits)
- STAT 320 Statistics II (no lab)(4 credits)
Plus Capstone Experience Course (4 credits)
- BIOL 462 Molecular Biology (4 credits)
- BIOL 486 Seminar in Physiology (4 credits)
- BIOL 464 Bioinformatics (4 credits)
- NSCI 420 Sleep & Circadian Rhythms (4 credits)
- NSCI 430 Neuroecology (4 credits)
- NSCI 450 Integrative Neuroscience (4 credits)
- NSCI 490 Topics in Neuroscience (4 credits)
- PSYC 415 Research Issues in Cognition (4 credits)
Neuroscience Undergraduate Courses
| Course Number | Title | Credits | |
|---|---|---|---|
| NSCI 201 | Introduction to Neuroscience | 4 | |
| Description of course Introduction to Neuroscience : | This course is an introduction to the field of neuroscience and explores the biological and psychological foundations of the brain and behavior. The course introduces cell biology and covers the basic principles of nervous system cells and organization, brain function, and how the nervous system contributes to our behaviors and experiences. Two laboratory hours per week. | ||
| NSCI 202 | Principles of Neuroscience | 4 | |
| Description of course Principles of Neuroscience : | This course is an in-depth introduction to the fundamental biological processes that are key for understanding how the brain controls behavior in humans and animals. Content will range from neuronal communication to higher order brain functions. The course will provide a detailed examination of how environmental influences impact the cellular processes in the brain and behavior. The laboratory component of the course will examine clinical connections between neuroscience foundational knowledge and human disease. Three laboratory hours per week. Prerequisites: NSCI 201 OR BIOL 208 with a C- or better. CHEM 112 OR CHEM 115 recommended. This course will replace the current NSCI 301 Principles of Neuroscience. Students cannot get credit for both NSCI 202 and the current NSCI 301. | ||
| NSCI 203 | Neuroscience Literacy | 4 | |
| Description of course Neuroscience Literacy : | This course emphasizes understanding the scientific method in the context of modern neuroscience research and covers research design and writing in neuroscience. Course content focuses on developing skills in reading primary neuroscience literature, designing neuroscience experiments, analyzing neuroscience data, and presenting neuroscience research. Three laboratory hours per week. Prerequisites: NSCI 202 AND STAT 220 with a strong recommendation in taking the SPSS, R, or Excel sections. Note: Students cannot get credit for both NSCI 203 and PSYC 212. | ||
| NSCI 243 | Individual Study | 2 TO 4 | |
| Description of course Individual Study : | No description is available. | ||
| NSCI 298 | Topics | 0 TO 4 | |
| Description of course Topics : | The subject matter of this course will vary from year to year, but will not duplicate existing courses. Descriptions of these courses are available in the Searchable Class Schedule on Murphy Online. | ||
| NSCI 301 | Principles of Neuroscience | 4 | |
| Description of course Principles of Neuroscience : | Human understanding of the brain and nervous system has improved dramatically over the past three decades. With the rapid expansion of knowledge has come an understanding that behavioral and cognitive disorders associated with both childhood development and with aging have a biological basis, and many have their origins in the interaction between the nervous system and environmental factors. Recent research has revealed that a healthy brain and nervous system depends on sound biologic function. Therefore, a basic understanding of the biology of the brain and nervous system, and of how the nervous system interacts with environmental factors, is necessary. This course will cover fundamental biological processes in the brain and nervous system, the role of the nervous system in human and animal behavior, and how environmental influences impact these processes at the cellular and organismal levels. Prerequisite: BIOL 208 | ||
| NSCI 302 | Neuroanatomy | 4 | |
| Description of course Neuroanatomy : | This course is an in-depth study of the structure and organization of the vertebrate nervous system. The course will build upon foundational neuroscience knowledge and will provide a detailed examination of the anatomy of the nervous system. The course will examine the structures of the nervous system, how these structures support critical functions, and disorders/diseases of these structures and their clinical manifestations. Laboratory sessions will focus on gross dissections, neuroanatomical techniques, and clinical methods used to investigate nervous system morphology and connectivity. Four laboratory hours per week. Prerequisites: NSCI 202. | ||
| NSCI 303 | Neurophysiology | 4 | |
| Description of course Neurophysiology : | This course is an in-depth study of the molecular, genetic, and cellular components of the vertebrate nervous system, and how these components interact to allow neurons to communicate. The course will build upon foundational neuroscience knowledge and will provide a detailed examination of the components of neuronal signaling, including the molecular structure of ion channels; proteins responsible for synaptic signaling; extracellular matrix structure and function; glial cell function; mRNA transfer between neurons. Laboratory topics will include training in the techniques and data analysis for modern neurophysiological techniques, including optogenetics, EEG, and multi-electrode neurophysiology. Four laboratory hours per week. Prerequisites: NSCI 202 and CHEM 112 OR CHEM 115. | ||
| NSCI 310 | Cognitive Neuroscience | 4 | |
| Description of course Cognitive Neuroscience : | Cognitive neuroscience is the study of “how the brain enables the mind.” The purpose of this course is for you to develop an advanced understanding of the biological basis of mental activity. We will examine the biological roots of various mental phenomena including perception, attention, learning, memory, language, emotion and consciousness. In particular, we will focus on the roles of plasticity and evolutionary pressure in shaping the mind, and on the treatment of cognitive neuroscience in popular media. Prerequisite: C- or better in NSCI 301 or permission of the instructor. | ||
| NSCI 320 | Human & Comparative Neurology | 4 | |
| Description of course Human & Comparative Neurology : | All neuroscience is a multidisciplinary enterprise that draws on findings from diverse fields, ranging from molecular genetics to comparative psychology. Comparative Neurology involves scrutinizing brain anatomy and physiology, relating brain structure to function, and linking each of these to behavior and ecology. In this course, we will explore how the human brain has emerged, discover some rules of how brains generally evolve (and develop some of our own), and determine what factors have guided the phylogenetic development of this complex structure. Throughout the course, laboratory projects and problem sets will support our classroom discussions. Prerequisite: C- or better in NSCI 301 or permission of the instructor. | ||
| NSCI 330 | Neuropharmacology | 4 | |
| Description of course Neuropharmacology : | Neuropharmacology is the study of how drugs affect the cells of the nervous system and their ability to communicate with other target systems in the body. This course will cover different classes of neurotransmitters and neurohormones and the receptors on target cells that recognize and bind these substances, using a “clinical model” framework that ties these principles to the therapeutic use of drugs. A significant amount of time will be spent covering the transduction mechanisms involved in converting the signals into a biological response, the gaps in a therapeutic approach, and new technologies that are improving the study and application of neurochemistry in modern neuroscience. Prerequisite: C- or better in NSCI 301 or permission of the instructor. | ||
| NSCI 340 | Computational Neuroscience | 4 | |
| Description of course Computational Neuroscience : | The brain is a complex, dynamical system consisting of billions of neurons. Computational models are essential for understanding how brain functions arise through neuronal interactions. This course covers current computational approaches of studying neural codes, network dynamics, and learning. In the process, we will learn how to characterize the coding and decoding in nervous systems, how the visual and auditory systems work, how to model individual neurons and network of dynamics, how neural integrators function, and how learning occurs through synaptic plasticity, self-organization, and reinforcement learning. The goal is to understand how cognitive growth and human-level cognition emerge from interactions of neuronal networks. Prerequisite: C- or better in NSCI 301 or permission of the instructor. | ||
| NSCI 350 | Neurobio of Social Behavior | 4 | |
| Description of course Neurobio of Social Behavior : | In this course, we will examine the neural and hormonal correlates of social behavior including vocalcommunication, aggressive behavior, reproductive behavior, pair bonding, parental behavior, and humansociality. We will consider how hormones influence the development and activation of behavior and, in turn,how behavior influences neural and endocrine physiology. A comparative approach will be emphasized tofacilitate understanding the adaptive function of molecular and physiological mechanisms of behavior aswell as the translational nature of behavioral neuroendocrinology research. In the laboratory component of the course, students will design and implement an experiment investigating the neuroendocrine regulation of social behavior in a non-human animal model. Prerequisite: A C- or better in NSCI 301 (or permission of the instructor). | ||
| NSCI 360 | Neurobiology: Drug Use & Abuse | 4 | |
| Description of course Neurobiology: Drug Use & Abuse : | This course will explore the biological actions of drugs in the brain and how drugs affect behavior. Drug addiction will be explored from a psychological and biological perspective. Content pertaining to drug laws and how our society perceives drug use and treatment will be incorporated into the lectures. Labs will focus on the techniques used to study drug effects on the brain and behavior. Students will gain a strong understanding of the biological actions of drugs in the brain and how drugs affect behavior. Prerequisites: Completed NSCI 301 required, recommended completion of PSYC 212 | ||
| NSCI 389 | Research | 2 OR 4 | |
| Description of course Research : | No description is available. | ||
| NSCI 393 | Individual Study | 2 TO 4 | |
| Description of course Individual Study : | No description is available. | ||
| NSCI 398 | Topics in Neuroscience | 4 | |
| Description of course Topics in Neuroscience : | The subject matter of this course will vary from year to year, but will not duplicate existing courses. Descriptions of these courses are available in the Searchable Class Schedule on Murphy Online. | ||
| NSCI 420 | Sleep and Circadian Rhythms | 4 | |
| Description of course Sleep and Circadian Rhythms : | This capstone neuroscience course uses the physiological process of sleep as a lens to evaluate neural connectivity, neurochemical modulation, and sensory integration. This course will emphasize sleep as central to neural development, learning, and health. As part of the laboratory work, students will track their own sleep and circadian rhythms through temperature, behavioral, and hormonal assessment. Prerequisites: NSCI 301 and senior standing (or permission from the instructor). | ||
| NSCI 430 | Neuroecology | 4 | |
| Description of course Neuroecology : | This international field course will focus on the development, structure and function of nervous systems in aquatic and terrestrial animals that populate various habitats. The course will explore a site that contains geomorphological and ecological variety, and which contains diverse terrestrial and aquatic habitats that are home to an array of vertebrate and invertebrate fauna. We will examine sensory, motor and integrative components of nervous system function and organization in the context of the unique environmental niche that each species populates, to learn about how animals orient, navigate, communicate, find food and avoid predation. Typically based at a biological research station, students engage in geological, morphological, physiological, behavioral and ecological research in both field and lab settings, and explore the ways that organisms and their environment are interrelated. Prerequisites: BIOL 209 and one 300-level BIOL or NSCI course with a grade of C- or better and 80 completed credits. | ||
| NSCI 450 | Integrative Neuroscience | 4 | |
| Description of course Integrative Neuroscience : | If we are to understand how behavior is guided by environmental cues, we must first understand how sensory information about the world is represented and processed in brain. In this seminar-style course, we will examine the neural organization of sensory systems, particularly the organization of cortical structures. We will first explore how various organizational strategies are used in different systems to perform specific functions, leading to the focus of our course: how information from different sensory modalities is integrated in higher-order cortical areas, and how this integration ultimately influences behavior. Prerequisite: C- or better in any two neuroscience elective courses or permission of the instructor and 80 completed credits | ||
| NSCI 490 | Topics | 4 | |
| Description of course Topics : | The subject matter of these courses will vary from year to year, but will not duplicate existing courses. Descriptions of these courses are available in the Searchable Class Schedule on Murphy On-line, View Searchable Class Schedule | ||
| NSCI 491 | Research | 2 OR 4 | |
| Description of course Research : | No description is available. | ||
| NSCI 495 | Individual Study | 2 OR 4 | |
| Description of course Individual Study : | No description is available. | ||