Neuroscience Graduate Curriculum

Details on the curriculum may be found in the Graduate Student Handbook.

Students entering our program immediately begin working on research in the laboratory of their chosen major professor. Students take a series of required courses plus a number of course electives to complete their individual programs of study.

Required Courses - offered every year

• PSB 5077 Responsible Conduct of Research (2 hours, S/U)
• PSY 6919 Research Design & Analysis I or BSC 5936 Quantitative Methods (3 hours)
• PSB 5057 Neuroscience Methods: Molecules to Behavior (2 hours)
• PSB 6933 Seminar in Neuroscience: First-Year Summer Seminar (2 hours; S/U)

Core Electives - minimum of 17 hours required

• Offered every year:
  • BMS 5525 Bioregulation (3 hours)
  • PCB 5137 Advanced Cell Biology (3 hours)
  • PCB 5525 Molecular Biology (3 hours)
  • PCB 5845 Cell and Molecular Neuroscience (4 hours)
  • PSB 5230C Vertebrate Neuroanatomy (4 hours)
  • PSB 5341 Systems and Behavioral Neuroscience (3 hours)
  • PSY 6919 Research Design & Analysis II (3 hours)
• Offered every two or three years:
  • BMS 5700 Developmental Neuroscience (3 hours)
  • BSC 5936 Neuroepigenetics (3 hours)
  • EXP 5406 Neurobiology of Learning and Memory (3 hours)
  • EXP 5717 Animal Psychophysics (3 hours)
  • EXP 6609 Working Memory and Cognitive Control (3 hours)
  • GMS 5095 Modeling Human Disease (3 hours)
  • MAP 5932 Introduction to Computational Neuroscience (3 hours)
  • PCB 5595 Advanced Molecular Biology (3 hours)
  • PCB 5747 Mammalian Physiology (3 hours)
  • PCB 5786 Membrane Biophysics (3 hours)
  • PCB 5795 Sensory Physiology (3 hours)
  • PSB 5347 Molecular Neuropharmacology (3 hours)
  • PSB 6048 Affective Neuroscience (3 hours)
  • PSB 6059 Behavioral Neuroendocrinology (3 hours)
  • PSB 6059 Neurobiology of Social Behavior (3 hours)
  • PSY 5916 Introduction to fMRI (3 hours)
  • PSY 5916 MATLAB (3 hours)

Laboratory Rotation Requirement

Students are required to gain research experience, equivalent to a three hour Directed Individual Study, outside of their home lab. This may be in the form of a DIS or similar research experience, such as an immersive workshop, and must be approved by the student’s committee.

Recommended Course Sequences

The program recommends that students follow one of two recommended curriculum paths: (i) Neuroscience Track for students pursuing research in laboratory animals, or (ii) Cognitive Neuroscience/Human Imaging Track for students pursuing research in human subjects. Specific courses listed below in each track are considered foundational and electives are used to reach the minimum requirement of 22 letter-graded credit hours.

Neuroscience Track

• Fall - Year 1

  • Cell & Molecular Neuroscience (4 hours) and/or Research Design & Analysis 1 (3 hours)
  • Responsible Conduct of Research (2 h, S/U)

• Spring - Year 1

  • Vertebrate Neuroanatomy (4 hours)
  • Systems & Behavioral Neuroscience (3 hours)
  • Neuroscience Methods (3 hours)

• Summer - Year 1

  • Summer Seminar (2 hours; S/U)

• Fall - Year 2

  • Cell & Molecular Neuroscience (4 hours) or Research Design & Analysis 1 (3 hours)
  • Elective, 3 hours

• Spring - Year 2

  • Elective (3 hours)

Cognitive Neuroscience/Human Imaging Track

• Fall - Year 1

  • Introduction to fMRI, MATLAB or EEG, each 3 hours
  • Research Design & Analysis I, 3 hours
  • Responsible Conduct of Research (2 h, S/U)

• Spring - Year 1

  • Vertebrate Neuroanatomy (4 hours) or Affective Neuroscience (3 hours) or Neurobiology of Learning and Memory (3 hours)
  • Neuroscience Methods (2 hours)

• Summer - Year 1

  • Summer Seminar (2 hours; S/U)

• Fall - Year 2

  • Introduction to fMRI, or MATLAB, or EEG (3 hours)
  • Elective (3 hours)

• Spring - Year 2

  • Vertebrate Neuroanatomy, 4 hours, or Affective Neuroscience, 3 hours, or Neurobiology of Learning and Memory (3 hours)
  • Elective (3 hours)

Events

• Weekly or Biweekly Events

  • Neuroscience Colloquium - invited speakers
    • Fall and spring
    • Located in PSB 6920
  • Seminar in Neuroscience - lunch with invited speakers
    • Fall and spring
    • Located in PSB 6933
  • Seminar in Neuroscience - first-year graduate student presentations
    • Summer
    • Located in PSB 6933

• Annual Events

  • Rushton Lectures – student-hosted speaker series
    • Fall and spring
  • Smith Lecture – features an internationally-renowned speaker conducting behaviorally-oriented research on scientific problems in neuroscience
    • Spring
  • Integrated Clinical Neuroscience Special Speaker Series – features ICN trainee-hosted speakers conducting translational research on dysregulated behaviors
    • Spring

• Biannual Events

  • Chemical Senses Retreat – features a keynote talk by a scientist conducting research in the chemical senses and shorter talks by our Chemosensory Training Program trainees