Biology 56             Seminar in Neurobiology: Plasticity          Spring, 2000

                                                                                                                        (rev. March 6, 2000)

January 26    Introduction to neural plasticity

February 2    Axon regeneration

February 9    Invertebrate learning/plasticity: Aplysia, Hermissenda

February 16  LTP, (and LTD and inhibitory LTP): mechanisms; relevance to learning

February 23  Synapse elimination

March 1        Primate/human memory: frontal cortex, working memory

March 8        Bird song (Anna Bender & Megan Duncan-Smith)

                      Spring break

March 22      Visual cortex plasticity: ocular dominance, orientation

March 29      Developmental disorders: dyslexia, Rett’s syndrome

                      (Marin Mannix & Esther Rodriguez)

April 5          Activity-dependent processes in development (Fiona Patriccio & Bill Thistlethwaite)

April 12        Neuron neogenesis in adult mammals (Ajay Soni & Young Song)

April 19        Effects of complex and deprived environments on cortex anatomy and physiology

April 26        Alzheimer’s disease & memory loss (Stephanie Cho & Carlisle Rand)

May 3           The hippocampus and plasticity (Matt Bevers)

Other possible topics:

In vivo sprouting, terminal growth

Conditioning: (1) eye-blink (cerebellum), (2) fear conditioning (amygdala)

Gender identity changes (CAH, 5-α-reductase)

Biochemical changes at synapses: CREB, c-fos

Circadian rhythms - entrainment, jet lag, resetting

Language acquisition

Plasticity in optokinetic eye movements: the Amherst contribution

Short-term changes: facilitation, depression, PTP

Neural changes during metamorphosis (insects, amphibians)

Plasticity in central retinal projections

Sprouting, neurotrophins

Stroke, ischemia, neuroprotection