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DEGREE REGULATIONS & PROGRAMMES OF STUDY 2012/2013
- ARCHIVE as at 1 September 2012 for reference only
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DRPS : Course Catalogue : School of Informatics : Informatics

Postgraduate Course: Principles of Neuroscience (INFR11048)

Course Outline
SchoolSchool of Informatics CollegeCollege of Science and Engineering
Course typeStandard AvailabilityNot available to visiting students
Credit level (Normal year taken)SCQF Level 11 (Postgraduate) Credits40
Home subject areaInformatics Other subject areaNone
Course website http://www.inf.ed.ac.uk/teaching/courses/pon Taught in Gaelic?No
Course descriptionThis course introduces students to the principles of experimental and computational neuroscience, by presenting different topics in neuroscience. The course provides research training to students in the 1+3 yr DTC PhD programme.
Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
Pre-requisites Co-requisites
Prohibited Combinations Other requirements First Year DTC neuroinformatics students only.
Additional Costs None
Course Delivery Information
Delivery period: 2012/13 Semester 1, Not available to visiting students (SS1) Learn enabled:  No Quota:  None
Location Activity Description Weeks Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday
No Classes have been defined for this Course
First Class First class information not currently available
No Exam Information
Summary of Intended Learning Outcomes
1 - critically evaluate primary research literature in neuroscience
2 - evaluate the impact of neuroscience research in a computational context
3 - discuss recent developments in neuroscience and current experimental methodologies and techniques
4 - communicate and summarize scientific papers to a non-specialist audience.
5 - discuss a research topic in detail and form new hypotheses
Assessment Information
Written Examination 0
Assessed Assignments 50
Oral Presentations 50

Assessment
The course is assessed by a combination of written work and oral presentations.
The written assignment is a critical review of about 4000 words of an experimental paper. The students should explore the context of the paper, critically evaluate its findings and conclusions, and discuss questions raised by the paper. Furthermore, students should suggest follow-up experiments and discuss the computational consequences of the work.
The oral presentation focuses on a particular topic area in Neuroscience approved by the course lecturer, and is double marked by two members of staff in Neuroscience or Informatics.
Special Arrangements
None
Additional Information
Academic description Not entered
Syllabus During the course the students are exposed to active research area and methodologies in neuroscience. Every week a different research area is discussed. Examples are brain imaging, neuropharmacology, synaptic plasticity, and computational modeling . Each of the ten weeks consist of a combination of lectures by staff, tutorials, reading of papers in the particular area, and self-study. Each week is concluded by presentations in which groups of students present what they found in the literature, discuss implication, future research suggested by the papers, and place the subject in a wider context.

Relevant QAA Computing Curriculum Sections: Not yet available
Transferable skills Not entered
Reading list "Neuroscience", by Purves, Augustine, Fitzpatrick, Hall, LaMantia, McNamara, and White. ISBN: 0878936971 (Copies will be provided to DTC students by the DTC.)
Study Abroad Not entered
Study Pattern Lectures 50
Tutorials 50
Timetabled Laboratories 0
Non-timetabled assessed assignments 100
Private Study/Other 200
Total 400
KeywordsNot entered
Contacts
Course organiserDr Jim Bednar
Tel:
Email: James.Bednar@ed.ac.uk
Course secretaryMiss Kate Weston
Tel: (0131 6)50 2701
Email: Kate.Weston@ed.ac.uk
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