Plan of the Course

COURSE AIMS: 

This course introduces students to all aspects of the nervous system structure and function, in health and in disease. It includes the anatomy, physiology, chemistry, pharmacology, and pathology of nerve cells, as well as the behavioural and psychological features that depend on the function of the nervous system and the clinical disciplines that deal with them, such as neurology, neurosurgery, and psychiatry. Traditionally neuroscience is seen as a branch of biological sciences. However, recently there has been a convergence of interest from many allied disciplines, including medicine, psychology, physics, computer science, statistics and many others. The scope of neuroscience has now broadened to include any systematic scientific experimental and theoretical investigation of the central and peripheral nervous system of biological organisms. The methodologies employed by neuroscientists have been enormously expanded, from biochemical and genetic analysis of dynamics of individual nerve cells and their molecular constituents to imaging representations of perceptual, motor and cognitive tasks in the brain. Neuroscience is at the frontier of investigation of the brain and mind. The study of the brain is becoming the cornerstone in understanding how we perceive and interact with the external world and, in particular, how human experience and human biology influence each other. Neuroscience is the most rapidly growing field of science.

 

COURSE STRUCTURE

The course Fundamentals of Neuroscience will last for five weeks (19th May 2014 – 20th June 2014). It will consist of lectures (65 hrs), seminars/tutorials (approximately 45 hrs), and practicals (dissections, computer simulations, examination of microscopical preparations, EEG recordings and readings, etc. - approx. 20 hrs), totaling 130 hrs.

Lectures (L):  65 hours

Seminars (S):  45 hours

Practicals (P):  20 hours

Total:  130 hours

 

FACULTY

1. Professor Hrvoje Banfić, MD, PhD
2. Professor Miloš Judaš, MD, PhD
3. Professor Marijan Klarica, MD, PhD
4. Professor Srećko Gajović, MD, PhD
5. Professor Zdravko Petanjek, MD, PhD
6. Professor Goran Šimić, MD, PhD (Head, Dept. of Neuroscience, co-ordinator of the course)
7. Professor Svjetlana Kalanj-Bognar, MD, PhD
8. Associate Professor Mario Vukšić, MD, PhD
9. Associate Professor Nataša Jovanov-Milošević, DVM, PhD
10. Assistant Professor Vladiana Crljen, MD, PhD
11. Assistant Professor Milan Radoš, MD, PhD
12. Assistant Professor Vesna Lukinović-Škudar, MD, PhD
13. Assistant Professor Željka Krsnik, BBSc, PhD
14. Elizabeta Radonić, MD, BA, PhD
15. Goran Ivkić, MD
16. Goran Sedmak, MD, PhD
17. Mirjana Babić, BBSc

 

EXAMINATIONS

The written exam consists of 50 multiple choice questions. There will be two summer examination terms (26th of June and 10th of July) and two examination terms in the fall (4th and 18th of September). Scoring system: 40-50 points = excellent (5), 34-39 = very good (4), 29-33 = good (3), 26-28 = 2 (satisfactory), less than 26 = 1 (fail).

The oral examination will consist of 5 randomly chosen questions from the list above, for example:

1. Action potential
2. Anatomical organization of the midbrain
3. Anterolateral spinothalamic system
4. Addictive states and drug abuse
5. Alzheimer’s disease

 

LIST OF EXAMINERS

1. Professor Hrvoje Banfić, MD, PhD
2. Professor Miloš Judaš, MD, PhD
3. Professor Zdravko Petanjek, MD, PhD
4. Professor Goran Šimić, MD, PhD (Head, Dept. of Neuroscience, co-ordinator of the course)
5. Professor Svjetlana Kalanj-Bognar, MD, PhD
6. Associate Professor Mario Vukšić, MD, PhD
7. Associate Professor Nataša Jovanov-Milošević, DVM, PhD
8. Assistant Professor Vladiana Crljen, MD, PhD
9. Assistant Professor Milan Radoš, MD, PhD
10. Assistant Professor Vesna Lukinović-Škudar, MD, PhD
11. Assistant Professor Željka Krsnik, BBSc, PhD

 

LITERATURE 

A. Obligatory

1. Kandel ER et al. (eds.) Principles of Neural Science, fifth edition, 2013.

 

B.  Additional

1. Purves D. et al. (eds.) Neuroscience, fifth edition. Sinauer Associates, 2012.
2. Blumenfeld H. Neuroanatomy through Clinical Cases, Sinauer Associates, 2002.
3. Squire LR et al. (eds.) Fundamental Neuroscience, second edition. Academic Press, 2003.
4. Bear MF et al. Neuroscience: Exploring the Brain, third edition. Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, 2006.
5. Niuwenhuys R et al. The Human Central Nervous System. A Synopsis and Atlas. Fourth edition, Springer, 2007

 

NOTE:  The use of online multimedia resources is also highly recommended.