Structure and Function of the Brain

Neuroanatomy, Neurophysiology, and Neuroimaging Physics

WINTER 2016 (go here for current/latest version)

Professor:
Marty Sereno -- email: m.sereno - AT - ucl
class time (2016): Mon 9:30-13:00 (15 min break @10:45),
location: B04, 43 Gordon Square
expect to take copious notes since exam heavily based on lectures

Readings:
reading list and readings here
background reading:
    Squire, Berg et al., eds. (2008/2013) Fundamental Neuroscience, 3rd/4th ed.
    Kandel, Jessell, Schwartz, eds. (2008/2012) Principles of Neural Science, 5th/6th ed.
    Nieuwenhuys, Voogd, van Huijzen (2008) The Human Central Nervous System, 4th ed.
    Lecture notes (by Flavia Filimon, ed. by Tessa Dekker) lecture1, lecture2, lecture3, lecture4, lecture5
background reading (undergraduate):
    Nicholls et al. (2012) From Neuron to Brain, 5th ed.
    Bear, Connors, and Paradiso (2006/2015) Neuroscience: Exploring the Brain, 3rd/4th ed.

Revision sessions:
Tuesday 08 Mar (10:00-12:00) B04, 43 Gordon Square
Tuesday 15 Mar (10:00-12:00) B04, 43 Gordon Square

Exam:
multiple question short-answer (best 14 of 16 questions)
each question has several short-answer subsections
example questions mentioned each lecture
old pdf answer keys from my 30-hour ugrad Systems Neuroscience course (2007) here and here
N.B.: old course covered more topics; our exam will only cover topics covered in class

Lecture Topics (Winter 2016):

11 Jan (9:30-13:00) -- (1) Neurons and Models, Development
membrane (Nernst) potential
action potential, voltage-gated channels
post-synaptic potentials, ligand-gated channels
dendritic propagation, equivalent circuits
NMDA channels, synaptic plasticity
spike-timing-dependent plasticity
relation to simple Hebbian models
- - - - - - - - - - -
gastrulation, neural plate, neural tube, optic cup
cylindrical coordinate system, temporal lobe formation
the 'rule of Sereno'

18 Jan (9:30-13:00) -- (2) Visual System I
retinal circuitry
dLGN (layers, non-lagged/lagged)
visual map structure (conformal maps)
edges, brightness, and primary motion in V1
cortical visual processing streams (interblobs, blobs, layer 4B)

25 Jan (9:30-13:00) -- (3) Visual System II
extrastriate visual areas overview
aperture problems and visual pattern motion
visual attention
visual object recognition

01 Feb (9:30-13:00) -- (4) Somatosensory System
somatosensory receptors types
arm diagram (length, force, alpha/gamma motoneurons)
somatosensory pathways (dorsal column, spinothalamic, spinocerebellar)
somatosensory cortical areas
somatosensory cortical plasticity

08 Feb -- NO CLASS -- BBK READING WEEK

15 Feb -- NO CLASS -- UCL READING WEEK

22 Feb (9:30-13:00) -- (5) Auditory System
auditory transduction and hair cell receptors
monaural cochlear nuclei responses
auditory brainstem sound localization
echolocation and speech sound processing
auditory cortical areas

29 Feb (9:30-13:00) -- (6) Motor System
gaze stabilization (VOR, OKN, pursuit)
superior colliculus retinal and motor maps
sensorimotor coord. transforms (double-step remembered saccade)
multisensory map interactions (SC:vis/aud VIP:somato/vis)
- - - - - - - - - - -
cerebellum anatomy, physiology
cerebellum and learning/conditioning
cortical and spinal pattern generators
connectional/functional overview striatum

07 Mar (9:30-13:00) -- (7) Limbic System
connectional overview limbic system
H.M. and intermediate term memory
place cells
head direction cells
grid cells
models theta rhythms, attractor networks

08 Mar (Tuesday! -- 10:00-12:00) -- Revision Session 1
location: B04, 43 Gordon Square

14 Mar (9:30-13:00) -- (8) MRI Physics; MEG/EEG Physics
MRI hardware
spin and precession, Bloch equation
converting longitudinal recovery differences into recordable transverse
spin echo and gradient echo
phase-sensitive detection
frequency-encoding -- avoid this intuition
frequency-encoding -- correct intuition
spin phase in image space--what gradients do
complex numbers, e to the minus i-theta, Fourier transform
slice selection and phase encoding
fast gradient echo with small flip angle (FLASH)
echo planar imaging (EPI)
signal-to-noise considerations
- - - - - - - - - - -
derivation of current source density
linear forward solution
linear inverse vs. dipole fitting

15 Mar (Tuesday! -- 10:00-12:00) -- Revision Session 2
location: B04, 43 Gordon Square

22 Mar (Tuesday!), 10:00-12:00 -- EXAM
UCL Location: Rm 253, 354, and 355, main Birkbeck Building (Malet St)
BBK Location: Rm 534, main Birkbeck Building (Malet St)