John - you are incredible - from HMB200 to HMB300

I love my colleague Dr. Yeomans. He was my professor when I was an undergraduate and even though I don't teach with him directly I am so thrilled to run into him and talk neuroscience. We have some awesome conversations that I can't have with my my other colleagues because the breadth and depth of his knowledge is incredible. I am also really impressed because every time I step into his classroom he's so animated and plugged in to his students. I hope that some of his teaching DNA is in me and that I am able to pass this along to my students. I also love his HMB200 students - they are resilient, they try hard and they work their butts off. They do significantly better than their counterparts - I think this is the true measure of teaching greatness - keeping students excited, interested AND well-trained for the next group of courses!

Plus - this is a little known fact - the man is an amazing tennis player (also one of my favorite sports). So as I prep for classes I've got John Yeomans on my mind (if you can take HMB200 do it do it do it!!!! - it's the best 2nd year neuroscience course here at U of T and he's an amazing individual who will teach you real neuroscience!)

It's on!!

Here are the new topics for the fall edition of HMB300 - meaner, leaner and brainier!

DATE	LECTURE TITLE	TOPICS COVERED	ASSIGNMENTS (DUE)
September 12	The next generation MRI machine - YOU	·   Course Overview ·   Revie assignment (Glogster/Issuu) ·   Animal models ·   Cellular methods
September 19	Molecules, structures and memory –  research methods and theories	·  Brain nodes ·  Neuronal signaling microdomains ·  Tracing brain circuits
September 26	Specialized cells in the CNS: Development and disease	·   Neurons vs. Glia ·   Growth factors ·   Case studies in cell death ·   Axotomy as a model
October 3	Neuropsychiatry: from basic research to clinical practice Dr. Roger McIntyre	·  Cellular basis of psychiatry ·  Schizophrenia/BipolarDisorder ·  New ideas, drugs and interventions	Initial topic draft due (10%)
October 10	Neurogenesis and disease	·  Review of neurogenesis ·  Potential therapies and interventions ·  Current paper discussion
October 17	Midterm Test (20%) + Gripe Session afterward	·  1.5 hours (location TBA) ·  Note there will be a tutorial and coffee afterwards
October 24	Epigenetics: development and behaviour Dr. James Eubanks	·  Overview of epigenetics ·  Signaling mechanisms that affect DNA structure ·  Case studies in epigenetics
October 31	Brain cancer – current theories and treatments Dr. Roberto Diaz	·  Overview of neuroblastomas and glioblastomas ·  Neurosurgical considerations ·  Current and future therapies
November 7	Goodbye Bill – a case study in neurodegeneration	·  Neurodegeneration models ·  Degeneration spectra ·  Why neuroscience won’t be able to cure dementias
November 14	Re-examining addiction 2012	·  Does internet addiction really exist? DSM-V and addiction ·  Cellular and molecular perspectives of addiction ·  Methods to “cure” addiction?
November 21	Wiring the brain – dispelling myths and controversies	·  Unique neurons in the brain ·  Are there brain regions that determine IQ and personality?	Final paper (20%) (*tentative due date)
November 28	Emergent technologies in neuroscience	·  Designer receptors and brains – can we grow a brain 2012? ·  Brain platforms ·  Final review session
Final Exam (40%) during FAS exam period (December)

Exciting (?) new topics in Human Neurobiology - HMB300H1F?

I can't wait for things to get started in this course. It's been awhile since we had a major overhaul of the course (in fact the last big one was when I took over 3 years ago). One of the things that we'll try to do is to concentrate a bit more on the basics at first and then hopefully build up to more complex and potentially crazy things. So we need lectures on material we have never covered before:

• neuroglia and their role in development
• why proteins like neurotrophic factors are so important to the nervous system
• neurogenesis and why it doesn't occur everywhere
• what models do we currently have for brain development - real and virtual
• can we really engineer a brain from scratch (as part of the final module)

Hopefully we'll be able to generate alot of interest and discussion in the smaller course

Changing the grading scheme for the course

We haven't gone over either the FAS or HMB course evaluations yet but just based on what has been relayed to me I think the one thing that students would like to have is a larger component of their final grade based on the neurowiki since it is so much work (and everyone does a good job). If you'd like to help in the process I'm putting together a course-management team so please let me know.

HMB300 in both semesters in Fall 2012 and Winter 2013

After much discussion with students and other members of the Neuroscience community we decided to launch both HMB300H1F on Wednesdays 3-6 as well as keeping HMB300H1S on Tuesdays 9-10 and Thursdays 9-11 (i.e. no change). It's hoped that the change will allow a bit more flexibility for students as well as allow for slightly smaller class sizes. HMB300 has been growing too quickly at this point - from 62, 115 to 148 over 3 years and I can't honestly say that I know everyone by name personally any more which is very important to me. So I hope that having classes of 50 students in HMB300H1F and 100 in HMB300H1S will be helpful to me too. If you have any ideas for topics that you want covered please let me know!

Neuroscience at the University of Toronto

Very happy to say that everyone did a great job on their Neurowiki assignments as well as on the midterm that was written yesterday. Still having lots of debates with my colleagues - is there actually any purpose to students writing midterm exams?