ELECTROPHYSIOLOGY June 11 – June 30
Section Description: The objective of the electrophysiology section is to learn electrophysiology from first principles to practical application. Students will receive lectures from leading scientists that range from the basics of whole cell recordings to ion channel structure/function to the molecular basis and modulation of synaptic transmission. Students will rotate through a series of experimental preparations that include the invertebrate neuromuscular junction, single channel recording and analysis in cultured cells, whole cell currents in cultured cells, and in vivo patch clamp recordings in tissue slices and intact central nervous system and glutamate uncaging. Rotations will be followed by independent research projects. These projects will be short, original research projects designed and executed under the guidance of individual teams of faculty and TAs. The goal is attain a basic understanding of the theory and application of a wide range of modern electrophysiological techniques and the application of these techniques toward solving outstanding questions in modern neuroscience.
Electrophysiology Resources:
Electrophysiology Readings (Dropbox Link) – use course login
Course Lectures (Dropbox link)
Tutorial Simulations and Other Educational Materials
Neuroscience Online – A surprisingly good free online textbook.
Neurons in Action – A great set of simulations of basic electrophysiological principles. Not free, but we will install it in some of the lab computers.
Nernst/Goldman Equation Simulator – Web-based simulator of N/G equation, useful for understnading concept of resting membrane potential.
Simulations of ion channels and excitable membranes – A useful online simulation from Pancho Benzanilla to better understand channel function. Uses outdated Java, so may not work.
MetaNeuron– A free computer program desinged to simulate passive and active membrane properties and synaptic transmission. Very intuitive.
Neuron– A fully-featured neuron simulator used in several research labs. Links to program, documentation and datasets can be found here. Best of all, it’s FREE!
SimePhys – Not very well developed ephys experiment simulator
SNNAP – Simulator for neural networks and action potentials
Electrophysiology of the Neuron – My favorite one, if you can get it to run on your machine.
Neuron Simulation Lab – Various ell designed tutorial simulating various single cell experiments, free from Amrita University, in India.
NeuroElectro – Database of various electrophysiological properties from various cell types.
NeuroLex – Morphology Database of various cell types, useful for modelling.
NeuroMorpho.org – Another morphology database
Allen Brain Atlas (Cell Types) – Database of electrophysiology and morphology properties from lots of cells. Not many cells yet, but very usable data and interface.
Electrophysiology Syllabus
Daily Schedule (some exceptions noted below)
9:00 – 11:30: Lecture
11:30 – 1:30 pm: Lunch/ Free time
1:30 – 6:00 pm: Lab
6:00 – 7:00 pm: Dinner/Free time
7:00 pm – evening: Lab and/or evening seminar
June 11 – Sun 6pm-9pm: Bar-B-Q in front of Loeb. Meet Physiology Faculty
June 12 – Mon 9am-12:00 Lecture: Jon Sack – Introduction to Voltage Clamp
1:30-6pm: Model Cell Demo, Rig tour
8:00pm Monday Night Lecture: Kravitz Lecture: Karla Kaun, NYU
June 13 – Tues 9am-12:00 Lecture: Jon Sack – Single Channel Recording
1:30-evening: Rotations
June 14 – Wed 9am-12:00 Lecture: Diana Bautista – Intro to Whole Cell Recording, TRP Channels
1:30-evening: Rotations
June 15 – Thurs 9am-12:00 Lecture: Carlos Aizenman – Action Potentials, Regulation of Excitability
1:30-evening: Rotations
June 16 – Fri 9am-12:00 Lecture: Rod McKinnon – Structure of Ion Channels
1:30-evening: Rotations
June 17 – Sat OFF
June 18 – Sun OFF
June 19 – Mon 9am-12:00 Lecture: Ellen Lumpkin – Mechanotransduction
1:30-6pm: Rotations
8:00pm Monday Night Lecture: Stuart Firestein (Columbia)
June 20 – Tues 9am-12:00 Lecture: Emily Liman – Taste
1:30-6pm: Rotations
Evening: Projects Meeting (Jar of Destiny) and Beer!
June 21 – Wed 9am-12:00 Lecture: Patrick Kanold – Tools for probing neural circuits
1:30-evening: Rotations
Evening: Ephys Review – As needed
June 22 – Thur 9am-12:00 Lecture: Barry Connors (Brown) – Neural circuit dynamics and gap junctions
1:30-evening: Projects
June 23 – Fri 9am-12:00 Lecture: Martin Mueller – Synaptic Transmission and Ca++ signaling
1:30-evening: Projects
June 24 – Sat Day/Evening: Projects
June 25 – Sun OFF
June 26 – Mon 9am- 12:00 Lecture: Ricardo Araneda – Olfaction
1:30-evening: Projects
8:00pm Monday Night Lecture: Gina Turrigiano, Brandeis
June 27 – Tues 9am-12:00 Lecture: Gina Turrigiano, Synaptic Plasticity
1:30-evening: Projects
June 28 – Wed 9am-12:00 Lecture: Kara Pratt – Development of Neural Circuits
1:30-evening: Projects
4:30-6pm: Meeting with Electron Microscopy Faculty (??)
June 29 – Thur 9am-12:00: Vilu Maricq – TBD
1:30-evening: Last day of recordings, end at dinner. Presentation prep, data analysis, etc.
June 30 – Fri 9am-12:00: No Lecture, cleanup.
3:00-5:30 pm: Presentations (followed by photo)
6:30pm: End of Cycle Party
July 1 – Sat OFF
July 2 – Sun OFF (start of Imaging Cycle Bar-B-Q in evening, 6pm Loeb Patio)
FACULTY
Carlos Aizenman Brown University [email protected]
Kara Pratt University of Wyoming [email protected]
Ellen Lumpkin Columbia Univ. [email protected]
Diana Bautista UC Berkeley [email protected]
Ricardo Araneda Univ. Maryland [email protected]
Jon Sack UC Davis [email protected]
Martin Mueller Univ. Zurich [email protected]
Patrick Kanold Univ. of Maryland [email protected]
Emily Liman USC [email protected]
TA
Ruilong Hu Team Araneda; [email protected]
Zhenyu Liu Team Pratt/Aizenman; [email protected]
LECTURERS
Barry Connors Brown University
Rod MacKinnon Rockefeller University
Karla Kaun Brown University
Gina Turrigiano Brandeis University
Stuart Firestein Columbia