Neuroscience

This course arose through student-faculty discussions and examines connections between the sociocultural, environmental and (epi)genetic risk factors for substance dependence. Weekly faculty lectures and student-led discussion groups will review current research in addiction treatment, systems neuroscience and biological psychiatry, and uniquely, will address the sociocultural context of drug use and the effects of harm reduction approaches and drug policy reform. This course includes, but goes beyond, molecular mechanisms with the goal of equipping students with the multidisciplinary knowledge and critical thinking skills necessary for approaching addiction research with objectivity and compassion beyond the course. Students will participate in a site visit to a local treatment center and hear actual patient histories to better understand the reality of addiction. A NIDA training grant workshop will be offered during Quarter II as an optional companion course to assist students in drafting an NRSA-type proposal.

This course will review current attempts to understand neurological and psychiatric disease. Students will learn how to apply the basic methods in molecular biology and molecular genetics to the study of disease. Three categories of disorders will be covered: neural, neurodevelopmental and neurodegenerative. The course will consist of lectures, core presentations, critical discussions of recent research papers and the preparation of an original research paper.

This seminar covers general topics on learning and development covering basic principles of behavioral and brain development, plasticity and neurodevelopmental disorders. The course format includes readings and student presentations, in addition to writing a paper using the populations and/or methods discussed to test a question specific to development and learning.

This course is a primer on general topics within neuroscience covering basic principles of brain function and behavior from the neuron, to circuits, to behavior. The course includes introductions to each of these topics, and provides overviews and labs in neuroanatomy, neurodevelopment, electrophysiology, neurochemistry, ion channels and neuroimaging.

This multidisciplinary course combines lectures about the fundamental biochemical, cellular, molecular, immunological, genetic and bioinformatics approaches that are used in biomedical research with critical discussion of research papers. In addition to lectures, each meeting will have provisions for a discussion period. Generally, this period will be used to discuss an original research paper, but occasionally it will be used for a model-building laboratory or a review session. The development of a research proposal is a major component of the course. The course is open to all students and fellows, and it is a core course for both neuroscience and pharmacology.

The course will present a range of mathematical approaches that play a central role in systems neuroscience, both for model-driven and data-driven investigations. We will take an approach beginning with the mathematical fundamentals and emphasize concepts rather than theorems.

Topics will likely include time series analysis, linear systems theory, point processes and dimension reduction techniques, but can be tuned to the needs of the group. For topics, notes and homework from previous years, please see http://www-users.med.cornell.edu/~jdvicto/mathcourse2223.html. 

Prerequisites include familiarity with matrices and basic linear algebra, complex numbers and calculus, preferably multivariate.

Everyone in biomedical science and medicine interacts with biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies, but students are often unprepared to understand these companies as businesses, evaluate them as places to develop his or her career, understand how they impact science and appreciate how they are changing health care delivery. This seminar course covers how drugs and medical devices are developed and commercialized. The course includes presentations on drug development, clinical trials, the FDA, patent law, pricing policy, drug sales, financial analysis and related topics. It also includes presentations on specific biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies, including an analysis of present and future performance. Students will be expected to actively participate in 15 meetings over a two-year period (there are 10 meetings each year), extensively follow a single company for a year, evaluate its prospects and make a formal presentation on that company.

This course combines the seminar series in the program in Neuroscience with critical discussions of papers published by the speaker or related papers in the area of that week's seminar.

This course is the seminar series in the program in Neuroscience. Most lectures are given by speakers invited from outside the Weill Cornell community, but speakers are also drawn from the program in Neuroscience and scientists at the WCGS with related interests.

This seminar course will provide students with experience in developing and writing both a popular science article and a research plan in an area of his or her choosing. Students will also critically evaluate the merits of specific approaches to scientific problems.

The RCR course is open to all members of the Tri-Institutional (Tri-I) and WCMC Clinical and Translational Science Center (CTSC) communities. Successful completion of the course is required for all trainees, fellows, participants, and scholars receiving support through NIH or NSF Institutional Research Training Grants, Individual Fellowship Awards, Career Development Awards (Institutional and Individual), Research Education Grants, Dissertation Research Grants, or other grant programs with a training component that requires instruction in responsible conduct of research as noted in the Funding Opportunity Announcement. The responsible conduct of research is the practice of scientific investigation with integrity. Training in this area is an essential component of research training; awareness and application of established professional norms and ethical principles is required in the performance of all activities related to scientific research. Weill Cornell Medical College is committed to fostering an environment that promotes the practice of scientific investigation with integrity. This course is intended to help fulfill that commitment.