Psy/Neu 394P. Behavioral Neuroendocrinology

Unique Numbers: 41695 (Psy), 57965 (Neu)

Instructor:	Yvon Delville, Ph.D.
	Psychology Department
	Seay 5.234
	Phone: 232-5731 (office), 232-7953 (lab)
	E-Mail: Delville@psy.utexas.edu
	Office Hours: Monday 3-5 pm or by appointment.

Class Goals:

The goal of the class is to prepare the class participants for a future as independent scientists. The students will develop a decent understanding of most topics relevant to behavioral endocrinology. They will be able to read, understand, criticize and evaluate scientific literature in behavioral neuroendocrinology. They will also be able to design studies testing hypotheses associated with behavioral neuroendocrinology.

Topics:

The class will be cover different topics.

-Topic 1. Concepts (Weeks 1-3). We will be talking about different concepts and hypotheses proposed by people researching behavioral neuroendocrinology. This will be my way to bring everyone in the class to the same level. These classes will include lectures and discussion of papers read in class.

-Topic 2. Methods (Week 4). Classes during this week will be dedicated to getting everyone in the class to develop the capacity to read, understand and criticize any publication relevant to behavioral neuroendocrinology. We will talk about most techniques used in the field from assays of substances in the blood to identification gene products. Most importantly, we will address the strengths and limitations of each method. This is important to develop the capacity to evaluate and criticize scientific literature. We will also discuss articles in class to illustrate certain points. A laboratory visit will be included in this section.

-Afterwards, we will have in depth reviews of selected topics relevant to behavioral neuroendocrinology. This will be done in the form of lectures and in class discussion of papers. Some of these lectures will be performed by the students as part of their grade for the class. These topics are very broad and will include several discussions and lectures in class. For instance, the topic of stress will be approached at multiple levels from the neuroendocrine and behavioral to health and immunity. These selected topics are not mutually exclusive. For example, the stress can be related to any other selected topic.

-Selected Topics:
	1. Sex determination and differentiation
	2. male reproductive behavior
	3. female reproductive behavior
	4. parental behavior
	5. affiliative and aggressive behavior
	6. feeding and homeostasis
	7. stress
	8. biological rhythms
	9. learning and memory
	10. psychiatric disorders
	11. Development
	12. neurogenesis and apoptosis (cell birth and cell death)
	13. behavioral and neural plasticity

Your specific topic of interest may not be specifically listed under the selected topics, but you will be very welcome to add it, as your own class presentation.

Grading:

Grades will be based on the following: one take-home midterm (30%), in-class presentation (30%) and one final (30%), class participation (10%). Final grades will be full letter grades, either A, B, C, D or F. There will be no A- or B+.

-Take-home Midterm. This exam will be constituted of 5-6 questions to be prepared by the students individually. The questions will be presented to the students by early March. Answers will be due by mid-March. Midterms returned late will be down-graded.

-In-class Presentation. Each student will be choosing a topic during the first week of class. Each student will be expected to research this topic, know its history, understand its implications, evaluate the literature in this topic, envision its future. The presentations (PowerPoint is recommended) should be in the form of a summary that can be easily followed by the other members of the class.

-Comprehensive Final Exam: This exam will be constituted of several questions (5-8) and will include all material covered in class. Students will be allowed to use their notes and textbooks during the exam.

Type of questions asked during an exam: How would you design a study to test a certain hypothesis? How would you control for...? Suppose you are asked to advise the president of the US on a certain area of research, what would you recommend as a scientific advisor?

Class Materials:

Textbook: R.J. Nelson (2000), An introduction to Behavioral Endocrinology, 2nd edition, Sinauer Associates. This book will be used by the students as a reference to cover the basics in behavioral neuroendocrinology.

Selected papers will be also distributed by the instructor. The first papers we will cover in class are the following:

Platt JR (1964) Strong inference. Science 146: 347-353.

Payfardar D ad Schwartz WJ (2001) An algorithm for discovery. Science 292:13.

Disabilities Statement:

"The University of Texas at Austin provides upon request appropriate academic accommodations for qualified students with disabilities.  For more information, contact the Office of the Dean of Students at 471-6259, 471-4641 TTY."