MEDS 378-40 (Biomedical
Sciences course number)
BME 316 (Biomedical
Engineering course number)
Credit: 3
Semester: fall, every year
Prerequisite:
Calculus for Neuroscience students;
Physiological Systems I (MEDS 471) or equivalent for Biomed.
Eng. Students;
Permission of the instructor is required for all students.
Instructor: Dr. Duck O. Kim ; kim@neuron.uchc.edu
Time: 2 hour/week lecture and group computer
work (time and date to be
determined with the registered
students) plus 3 hours/week individual
computer work;
Number of students: maximum 4
In this course, the students will study the function of single neurons and neural systems by the use of simulations on a computer. The course will combine lectures and classroom discussions with conducting computer simulations. The simulations will include exercises and a term project. Each student will complete a term project of neural simulation to be developed during the second half of the semester. The topic of the term project should be approved by the instructors by the middle of the semester. The grade will be based on the exercises and the term project.
The course will include the following content: analysis of electrical circuits modeling neuronal cell membrane and the related differential equations; the Hodgkin-Huxley model of voltage- and time-dependent sodium and potassium channels in the squid axon; voltage-clamp and current-clamp; the relationship between two rate constants versus the steady-state value and time constant underlying each ion channel; neuronal response properties that are related to voltage-dependent and calcium-dependent ion channels; single- and multi-compartment models with ion channels simulating specific neuronal response properties described in the literature; excitatory and inhibitory postsynaptic currents and underlying ligand-gated ion channels; dendritic electrotonus and synaptic integration; temporal and spatial interactions of synaptic inputs to the dendritic tree and the cell body; action potential propagation in axons; neural circuits.
This course is intended for
graduate students and senior undergraduate students, and is a part of:
Neuroscience Program, Univ. Conn. Health Center;
Biomedical Engineering Program, University of Connecticut.