Tatsuo Okubo, Nikhil Bhatla
Enrollment: Unlimited: Advance sign-up required
Sign-up by 01/04
Attendance: Participants welcome at individual sessions
Prereq: None
Why do people act the way that they do? How sensory input alters the behavioral output of living organisms is a fascinating question in neuroscience. While this is difficult to study in a gap-free manner at the cellular level in mammals, gap-free neural circuits have been identified and their signal transformation properties characterized in simpler organisms. On each day of this class we will discuss a single neural circuit that has been worked out at the cellular level, including how each neuron in the circuit transforms the incoming physiological signal using specific molecules. Circuits will be derived from primary experimental data. We will focus on circuits for which the neurons that sense the stimuli are known, the interneurons are known, and the motor neurons controlling muscle contraction and the resulting behavior are known. Circuits will be drawn from several invertebrate organisms, including the genetic organisms C. elegans and Drosophila, as well as the locust, crayfish and cricket. After this class students will have a precise understanding of several different neural circuits as well as the methods used to identify and analyze these circuits. By providing several examples of real neural circuits, principles for how circuits function in general may become apparent. Students, post-docs and professors welcome.
The class will consist of 10 sessions from Monday, January 7, 2013 to Friday, January 18, from 4-5:30p in 46-3015.
Course website and sign-up form.
Sponsor(s): Brain and Cognitive Sciences
Contact: Tatsuo Okubo, 46-5145, okubo@mit.edu
Tatsuo Okubo, Nikhil Bhatla