Course Identification

Methods in Neuroscience- Practical
20253142

Lecturers and Teaching Assistants

Dr. Takashi Kawashima, Dr. Ivo Spiegel, Dr. Michal Ramot, Dr. Yoav Livneh, Prof. Yaniv Ziv, Prof. Ofer Yizhar, Prof. Ilan Lampl
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Course Schedule and Location

2025
Second Semester
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07/09/2025
11/09/2025

Field of Study, Course Type and Credit Points

Life Sciences: Laboratory; Elective; 1.00 points
Life Sciences (Brain Sciences: Systems, Computational and Cognitive Neuroscience Track): Laboratory; 1.00 points

Comments

Methods in Neuroscience Practical is a mandatory course for MSc students in the Brain Sciences track. It is also an elective for all other Life Sciences Students.

Specific dates for the practical course will be announced during the second semester.

The number of students in the course is not limited.
In-person course

Prerequisites

Course: Introduction to Neuroscience: Cellular and Synaptic Physiology
Course 20253152: Methods in Neuroscience Theoretical 

Restrictions

15

Language of Instruction

English

Attendance and participation

Obligatory

Grade Type

Numerical (out of 100)

Grade Breakdown (in %)

50%
50%

Evaluation Type

Final assignment

Scheduled date 1

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-
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Estimated Weekly Independent Workload (in hours)

9

Syllabus

This lab course will take place in early September 2025. It will include extensive hands-on experiments in three labs, followed by data analysis and submission of written reports. The main emphasis will be given to techniques of neurophysiology, neural activity imaging, and human brain imaging. Techniques covered in the lab course will include, for example:

  1. Extracellular and intracellular recordings in vivo.
  2. Fiber photometry of neural activity/neuromodulatory release in behaving animals
  3. Quantifying gene expression using molecular biology methods.
  4. Optogenetics.
  5. In vivo voltage imaging in a small model animal.
  6. In vivo calcium imaging in freely moving mice.
  7. MRI imaging of inanimate samples and human volunteers.

The number of participants is not limited, and each student is required to rotate and submit reports in 3 labs.

Learning Outcomes

Upon successful completion of this course, students should be able to:

Demonstrate knowledge in a wide range of neuroscience methods.
Read and understand research papers that utilize modern molecular approaches, neurophysiology, and imaging techniques.
Conduct experiments and analyze data using electrophysiology, optical imaging and fMRI

Reading List

The Axon Guide (3rd edition) - available online from various sources.
Imaging in Neuroscience - a Laboratory Manual (Cold Spring Harbor Press)

Website

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