WESLEYAN UNIVERSITY, Spring 2015 BIOL/NSB 250: CELLULAR ... · • Mouse behavioral testing for cognition, learning, and memory • Electroencephalography and video monitoring of

WESLEYAN UNIVERSITY, Spring 2015

BIOL/NSB 250: CELLULAR AND BEHAVIORAL NEUROBIOLOGY LABORATORY COURSE SYLLABUS

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BASIC INFORMATION

Instructor: Janice Naegele, PhD.

Office: 254 Hall-Atwater

Office Hours: Thursdays 3-5:00 PM and by appointment

Office Phone: X3232

Email: [email protected]

URL: http://naegelelab.research.wesleyan.edu/

Graduate Teaching Assistant: Meghan Van Zandt

Office: Room 265 Hall Atwater Laboratory

Office Hours: Fridays 2-3 PM

Cell Phone: 203 521-4538

E-Mail: [email protected]@wesleyan.edu

Course Meeting Times: Tuesday 1-4(5) PM

Credit: 1 credit

Course Enrollment: 10 students (undergraduate and graduate). Permission of Instructor required for enrollment.

First class meeting: Tuesday, February 3, 2015 at 1:00 PM

Location: Rm 290, Hall Atwater (Advanced Teaching Lab).

Course Description

This lab course provides exposure to and hands-on training in multiple experimental approaches in contemporary cellular and behavioral neurobiology. The labs are designed to promote scientific problem solving, critical thinking, and hypothesis testing. Students gain familiarity with some commonly used methodological approaches in modern neuroscience research laboratories around the world. The gross anatomy of the mammalian brain and some important cell types will be studied by means of brain dissection, primary cell culture, immunocytochemistry, and immunohistochemistry. Students will become familiar with a number of behavioral tests for learning, memory and cognition in mice. Students will learn about electroencephalography (EEG) and how it is used to study normal behaviors such as sleep, as well as abnormal brain discharges, or seizures. The course has four major objectives:



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Objective 1: To promote an understanding of and competence in a scientific methods.

Objective 2: Training in responsible and ethical conduct in research, including: handling of laboratory animals, ways to reduce animal use and find alternatives, and procedures to alleviate pain and suffering in animals.

Objective 3: To develop students’ ability to articulate testable scientific hypotheses, formulate and design scientific experiments to test hypothesis, and consider appropriate controls.

Objective 4: To strengthen scientific writing and oral presentation skills. Students maintain detailed laboratory notebooks, read scientific journal articles, and summarize, and discuss the articles. Students use a peer-review system for evaluating first-drafts of their term papers, and discussion of scientific content of readings is encouraged through the use of on-line discussions on Moodle as well as in-class discussions.

Lectures and discussion topics:

• Responsible and ethical conduct in research • The scientific method • Ethical issues associated with vivisection and alternatives to the use of animals in

research • Collecting experimental data and maintaining a scientific laboratory notebook • Formulating testable hypotheses, model building and developing hypothesis-driven

research projects • Writing, reading, and interpreting scientific papers and reviews

Laboratory methodology and techniques:

• Neuroanatomy and sheep brain dissections • Basic neuroanatomy • Primary astrocyte cell culture • Immunocytochemistry • Mouse behavioral testing for cognition, learning, and memory • Electroencephalography and video monitoring of seizures

Prerequisites: NSB 213; preferably 1-year of biology and chemistry. Familiarity with the field of neuroscience, use of Moodle, and exposure to basic laboratory organization and bench work (such as Introductory biology lab) is expected.



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Course Policies and Expectations:

What I expect from you: Attendance is required each week. Each student is required to maintain their own, original laboratory notebook and record their work in in that notebook during class. We provide each student with the notebook; lost/stolen notebooks are the student’s responsibility to replace. Basic lab notebook function and organization will be reviewed in class and in handouts. Students will keep a detailed record of all experimental procedures and results obtained during the course. Lab reports are due five times during the semester. Students are also responsible for weekly reading assignments covering a range of topics related to the course work and for participating in Moodle discussions and class discussions of the readings. Each student will also write a term paper of approximately 5-6 pages on one of several assigned topics and make a short presentation of their research paper to the class.

What you can expect from me: I will begin class on time and end class on time. I will provide additional help outside of class if students wish to meet with me to discuss assignments. The best times to meet are during my office hours or by appointment, as well as in class. I will provide detailed lab protocols, discuss research strategies and ethics, and lead on-line Moodle and in class discussions about journal articles that highlight the methodologies that are taught in the course. I will respond to your emails within 48 hours.

Take Note: There will be no make up classes, due to the time, labor, and expense of laboratory reagents. Students should not bring laptops to class. Cell phone use (and use of social media during the entire class period) is strictly forbidden. Appropriate casual wear (long-sleeve top/shirts and pants) are required in the lab classroom, no open-toed shoes or sandals will be allowed – no exceptions. Students who are not wearing appropriate attire for laboratory work will be denied access to the class and receive a grade of 0 for that class.

Workload:

Students are required to attend every Tuesday class and stay for the duration of the class, typically until 4 PM, but on occasion students will need to stay until 5 PM. A one-week notice will be given for those days that will go until 5 PM. At several points in the semester, students are required to come into the advanced lab classroom outside of regular class times to complete experiments. Typically this time will not exceed 1-2 hours/week and it will be possible to do this during the early evening, with TA supervision. Homework, readings, on-line discussion, and lab reports will take approximately 6 additional hours/week outside of class. The final paper is expected to take approximately 6-10 hours of work for the first draft and about the same for the final revisions. In addition, several hours of time outside of class will be required for reading and reviewing drafts from 2 classmates and writing short letters commenting on the term paper draft.



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Assignments, Due Dates, and Weights

Number Course assignment Percentage of grade (points)

Due Dates

1 Class attendance and participation (including Moodle discussions)

10% (10 pts.) 10 class meetings 3-4 hours each

2 Moodle discussions 10% (10 pts.) Most weeks

3 Lab report #1: Sheep Brain Neuroanatomy

10% (10 pts.) Feb. 10

4 Lab report #2 Microscopy and Immunostaining

10% (10 pts.) March 3

5 Draft #1 Term Paper and associated writing workshop

feedback assignments

10% (10 pts.) March 25

6 Lab report #3: Astrocyte Cell Culture

10% (10 pts.) March 31

7 Response Essay on readings and discussion of ethical conduct and animal research

April 7

8 Lab report #4: EEG, and seizure classification

10% (10 pts.) April 14

9 Lab report #5: Visio-spatial Learning & Memory

10% (10 pts.) April 21

10 Final Term Paper and Oral Presentation

10% (10 pts.) Finals week

Total All work 100 points See grade rubric



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Grade Chart (proposed by Wesleyan University Registrar):

Additional Readings and Resources:

1. Lives In The Balance: The Ethics Of Using Animals In Biomedical Research. Eds. J. A. Smith and K. M. Boyd (1991) Oxford University Press

2. Science for Life (1992): Exploring Animal Models In Basic Research. (An instructional resource book and videotape developed at Florida State University). Friedman, Peter and Brunet, Jean-Francois (1995)

3. Carey, Stephen (1998) A Beginner’s Guide to Scientific Method. Wadsworth Publishing Company, New York, NY.

4. Instructional Videos: Becton Dickinson, In Vitro Insights, Tissue Culture Modules

5. Course website on Moodle

6. Public Library of Medicine (PubMed – go through library website)



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Accommodations and Disability Resources:

Wesleyan University is committed to ensuring that all qualified students with disabilities are afforded an equal opportunity to participate in and benefit from its programs and services. To receive accommodations, a student must have a documented disability as defined by Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and the ADA Amendments Act of 2008, and provide documentation of the disability. Since accommodations may require early planning and generally are not provided retroactively, please contact Disability Resources as soon as possible. If you believe that you need accommodations for a disability, please contact Dean Patey in Disability Resources, located in North College, Room 021, or call 860-685-2332 for an appointment to discuss your needs and the process for requesting accommodations.

Academic Integrity:

All written work must provide proper citation of outside sources used in preparation of the work. Data sharing is expected in group projects and students are expected to collaborate in class while doing experiments. However, students are expected to write their lab reports independently. Students are expected to submit their work with the Honor Code and affirm that the submitted work is their own, original work by signing it.

The following statement of the honor code is to be written at the end of each lab report and in the term paper:

“In accordance with the Honor Code, I affirm that this work is my own and all content taken from other sources has been properly acknowledged.”



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Schedule for Spring Semester 2015 (subject to change) Week Date Learning Objectives and Experiments Duration

1 February 3

Sheep Brain Dissections Part 1 Learning Objectives: Students will learn to identify deep structures in the mammalian brain. Students will learn basic functions of different structures and some neurological correlates of damage to those structures. Lab Report #1 on Sheep Brain Dissection is due Feb. 10 before class)

3 hr.

2 February 10

Confocal microscopy (with Jeff Gilarde) Learning Objectives: Students learn about the components of the confocal microscope Students learn how to image fluorescent staining in brain sections and take photomicrographs Students learn how to export data on USB drive and use Adobe Photoshop to prepare figures for lab reports.

3 hr.

3 February 17

Immunohistochemistry and microscopy Part 1 Learning Objectives: Students learn the basics of antibody: antigen interactions Student learn how to make serial dilutions Students learn how to perform immunohistochemistry on rodent brain sections following an established protocol.

~4 hr.

4 February 24

Immunohistochemistry and Microscopy Part 2 Learning Objectives: Students image their immunostained brain sections on fluorescent microscope and confocal microscope and collect data for lab reports. Lab report 2 on Microscopy and Immunohistochemistry due before class on March 3 Students learn to cut cryostat sections

~4 hr.

5 March 3

Sterile Tissue Culture Part I Learning Objectives: Students learn basics of sterile tissue culture Students review use of hemocytometer to calculate cell density Students learn how to harvest white matter and perform mechanical dissociation to prepare cells for astrocyte cultures

~4 hr.



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Week Date Learning Objectives and Experiments Duration

6 March 10 Wesleyan Spring Break March 7-22 Work on term paper draft

7 March 17 Wesleyan Spring Break March 7-22 Work on term paper draft

8 March 24

Sterile Tissue Culture Part 2 Lab report 3 due March 31 Learning Objectives: Students observe appearance of confluent cell growth in primary astrocyte cultures and photograph or draw cell morphologies

4 hr.

9 March 31

Writing Workshop and Care and Animal Use Training Session Learning Objectives: Students become familiar with the Peer review process. Students share critiques about term papers and learn how to provide constructive criticism on content and style in written work Animal care and use: Students learn about proper and human handling of laboratory animals (mice) and ways to recognize and minimize pain and distress. Three page Response Essay on Ethical conduct and Animal Research due April 7

4 hr.

10 April 7

Behavior Part I (Lab report 4 due April 14) Electroencephalography (EEG) (Video-EEG monitoring) Learning Objectives: Students learn to score seizure severity using the Modified Racine Scale for behavior and EEG recordings (using video-EEG recordings from mice with spontaneous seizures) Students score the progression of seizures from onset to status epilepticus in the pilocarpine model of temporal lobe epilepsy.

5 hr.



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Week Date Learning Objectives and Experiments Duration

11 April 14

Behavior Part 2 Tests of Visual Learning and Spatial Memory (Lab report 5 due April 21) Learning Objectives: Students learn how to train and test mice in a classical spatial memory test called the Morris Water Maze Students learn how to train and test mice in the classical spatial memory test called the Radial Arm Maze Students learn how to test mice in the Barnes Maze (visually guided escape)

4 hr.

12 April 21

Behavior Part 3: Tests of Anxiety (No Lab report) Learning Objectives: Students learn how to test mice for measures of anxiety and depression Students become familiar with the Elevated Plus Maze Students become familiar with the Porsolt Swim test

3 hr.

13 April 28 Student term paper presentations (20 minutes each)

3 hr.

14 May 5 Student term paper presentations (20 minutes each)

3 hr.

NOTES:

Documents

WESLEYAN UNIVERSITY, Spring 2015 BIOL/NSB 250: CELLULAR ... · • Mouse behavioral testing for cognition, learning, and memory • Electroencephalography and video monitoring of