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Univ. of Pennsylvania Penn's Neurobiology of Disease Curriculum

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NEUROBIOLOGY OF DISEASE Overview Course - INSC 587 - 2006

Course Summary

Dysfunction of the human brain can produce a wide variety of neurological and psychiatric illnesses. Over the past decades, neuroscientists have begun to unravel the basic underlying mechanisms of a number of important diseases of the nervous system, at the cellular, molecular and genetic levels. None of these disorders are completely understood, and, perhaps more importantly, none are yet susceptible to either total prevention or cure, so these conditions remain among the most important health problems of our society. This course is designed to familiarize neuroscientists with basic information about a number of important neurological and psychiatric diseases, focusing on a relatively brief clinical description of the condition and a more in depth discussion of what is currently understood about the basic pathobiology of the disorder.

The course was divided into two parts: formal didactic teaching sessions (taking place on Tuesdays) and research seminars/ chalk talks (taking place on Thursdays). The didactic lectures began with the clinical presentation of the disease/disorder in question (~15"), then discussed the current hypotheses about the mechanisms underlying the disease (~45") and finished with current treatments (~10").

During the Thursday afternoon sessions, Penn faculty members presented research seminars or chalk talks describing the research she or he was conducting in the particular disease. Papers from the current literature were provided to students in advance of the seminar so that students could familiarize themselves with the research. It was expected that this format, of having a research seminar given after the introductory lecture, would allow students to become familiar in depth with at least one approach to each disease. The research seminars are not presented on this website.

There is no one text suitable for the course; as noted above, readings from the current literature were assigned for each class. However, many of the chapters in "The Molecular and Genetic Basis of Neurological Disease" edited by Roger Rosenberg, Stanley Pruisiner, Salvatore DiMauro, and Robert Barchi, Edition 2 or 3, are a good initial source.

Viewing the Lectures

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Lectures from NBD Overview Course - Spring 2006

Lecture Title Lecturer Date Real
video
Slides
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Mechanisms of brain dysfunction Marc A. Dichter, MD, PhD Jan 10, 2006 link to video link to slides
Stroke and ischemic brain damage Marc A. Dichter, MD, PhD Jan 17, 2006 not available link to slides
Axonal injury and repair in the CNS and PNS Michael E. Selzer, MD, PhD Jan 24, 2006 link to video link to slides
Epilepsy - seizure mechanisms Marc A. Dichter, MD, PhD Jan 31, 2006 link to video link to slides
Mechanisms of epileptogenesis Marc A. Dichter, MD, PhD Feb 2, 2006 link to video link to slides
Alzheimer's disease Marc A. Dichter, MD, PhD Feb 7, 2006 link to video link to slides
Parkinson's disease David R. Lynch, MD, PhD Feb 14, 2006 link to video link to slides
Huntington's and other triplet repeat diseases David R. Lynch, MD, PhD Feb 21, 2006 not available not available
Depression and affective disorders Wade Berrettini, MD, PhD Feb 28, 2006 link to video video
only
not available
Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis Marc A. Dichter, MD, PhD Mar 7, 2006 link to video link to slides
Neurobiology of macular degeneration Joshua Dunaief, MD, PhD Mar 14, 2006 link to video link to slides
Schizophrenia Raquel Gur, MD, PhD Mar 21, 2006 link to video link to slides
Multiple sclerosis Clyde Markowitz, MD Mar 28, 2006 link to video link to slides
Addiction Charles P. O'Brien, MD, PhD Apr 4, 2006 link to video link to slides
Effects of AIDS on the nervous system Francisco Gonzalez-Scarano, MD Apr 11, 2006 link to video link to slides
The neurobiology of autism Edward S. Brodkin, MD Apr 18, 2006 link to video link to slides
Disorders of brain development Peter B. Crino, MD, PhD Apr 25, 2006 link to video link to slides