Some last minute advice before Sydney’s blitz.

Yvette Graveline plays a crucial role for CogSeq’s winning presentation.

Kayla Rose and Alycia Sullivan present Mirror.

Jarrod Stein and Kevin Fernandez.

Spring 2012

Tues/Thurs 9:30-10:45am 

Course description: This 3-credit seminar is designed to acquaint students with the symptoms, pathophysiology, etiology, and treatment of various neuropsychiatric disorders.

Full syllabus available here.

Grant proposal requirement is described in syllabus.  A guide to developing the Specific Aims page is here:
NIH Grant Application Guide – Chapter 7
NIH Grant Application Guide – Chapter 8

Schedule and assignments:

• Jan 24: Welcome  Reading: none
• Jan 26: Intro to Neurology & Neuropathology  Reading: “The 4-Minute Neurologic Exam” (handed out in class)  (slides)
• Jan 31: Intro to Anatomy (via Stroke)  Assignment: Review neuroanatomy here.  Reading: Feigin et al. (2003). Stroke epidemiology: A review of population-based studies, incidence, prevalence, and case-fatality in the late 20th century.  Lancet Neurology, 2003(2):43-53. (slides)
• Feb 2: Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)  Reading: Tripp & Wickens (2009).  Neurobiology of ADHD.  Neuropharmacology, 57:579-89. (slides) (The documentary “The Drugging of our Children” can be found here)
• Feb 7: Schizophrenia I  Reading:  Pearlson, G. D. (2000).  Neurobiology of schizophrenia.  Annals of Neurology. 48(4):556-66.
• Feb 9: Schizophrenia II  1-paragraph proposal plan due (slides)
• Feb 14: PTSD  Reading: Newport & Nemeroff (2000). Neurobiology of posttraumatic stress disorder.  Current Opinion in Neurobiology, 10:211-18. (slides) (The Frontline piece “The Soldier’s Heart” can be found here)
• Feb 16: Mood & Anxiety Disorders Reading: Heim & Nemeroff (2001).  The role of childhood trauma in the neurobiology of mood and anxiety disorders: Preclinical and clinical studies.  Biological Psychiatry, 49:1023-39. (slides)
• Feb 21: TBI I Reading: Werner & Engelhard (2007).  Pathophysiology of traumatic brain injury. British Journal of Anesthesia, 99(1):4-9. (slides) (The Washington Post documentary “Coming Home a Different Person” can be found here; the NOVA series “Brain Trauma” can be found here)
• Feb 22: Anne McKee Lecture, 4:00pm, Morrill 222  Reading:  Gavett, Stern & McKee (2011).  Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy: A potential late effect of sport-related concussive and subconcussive head trauma. Clinics in Sports Medicine, 30:179-88. (Video preview of Dr. McKee’s from the New York Times work can be found here; a supplementary paper with case studies can be found here)
• Feb 28: Addiction I Reading: Koob & Volkow (2010). Neurocircuitry of addiction.  Neuropsychopharacology, 35:217-38. Read to 227 (before Neurocircuitry…)
• Mar 1: Addiction II Reading: Remainder of Koob & Volkow. (slides) (Read more about ESPN’s Unguarded – the Chris Herren story – here. Available on iTune. Or check out Basketball Junkie at your local library)
• March 6: Autism  Reading: DiCicco-Bloom et al (2006).  The developmental neurobiology of autism spectrum disorder.  Journal of Neuroscience 26(26):6897-6906. (slides) (The documentary “Wretches and Jabbers” is available on Netflix)
• March 8: Sleep disorders  Reading: Postuma et al. (2011) REM sleep behavior disorder: From dreams to neurodegeneration. Neurobiology of Disease X:XX-XXX. (slides) (Peter Tripp story found here)
• March 12: Amherst Cinema presents “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind” with discussion by Mary Harrington (Smith College) -> click here for more info
• March 15: Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) Reading: Kiernan et al (2011).  Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.  The Lancet, 377:942-55. (slides)
• March 27: Proposals due to your assigned reviewers
• March 27 & 29 Review your colleagues’ proposals. Due to your colleagues by April April 3.
• April 3: Drug Development  No reading
• April 5: Parkinson diseases I  Reading: Nutt & Wooten (2005). Diagnosis and initial management of Parkinson’s disease. New England Journal of Medicine, 353:1021-7. (slides)
• April 10: Parkinson diseases II
• April 12: Huntington disease Reading: Walker, F. O (2007). Huntington’s disease.  Lancet, 369:218-28. (slides) (‘line drawing’ of HD pathology can be found here)
• April 19: Cerebellar ataxias  Reading: Anheim et al. (2012) Autosomal recessive cerebellar ataxias.  New England Journal of Medicine, 366:636-46. (slides)
• April 24: Alzheimer’s disease   Reading: Cummings, J. L. (2004). Alzheimer’s disease. New England Journal of Medicine, 351:56-67.
• April 26: Health disparities I  Reading: Williams et al. (2010). Race, socioeconomic status, and health: Complexities, ongoing challenges, and research opportunities.  Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 1186:69-101.
• May 1: Health disparities II  Final Proposal due.

Graduate student Lauri Kurdziel equipped with PSG by fellow graduate student, Bengi Baran.

Polysomnography (or PSG) is a montage of physiological measures used to score sleep stages and characterize the physiological properties of sleep.

We use the Grass Instruments AURA PSG, an ambulatory unit which can be used in the home.

Grass AURA with gold electrodes (foreground) 

Electrodes are placed on the forehead, chin, and scalp.

Electrodes can be removed with a wet washcloth the following morning.

Rebecca M. C. Spencer

EDUCATION
B.S.  Biology & Kinesiology, Hope College 1997
Ph.D.  Neuroscience, Purdue University  2002
Post-doctoral fellow, Cognitive Neuroscience, UC Berkeley, 2002-2007

ACADEMIC POSITIONS
2007-2008   Research Scientist, UC Berkeley
2008-present  Assistant Professor, Department of Psychology, University of Massachusetts, Amherst

FUNDING
2011-present  NIH R01 CHXXXX (PI: Valera; Role: Consultant)
2008-present     NIH R00 AG029710-01  (PI: Spencer)
2008-2010         UMass Office of Research  (PI: Spencer)
2004-2009        NIH LRP Award 2485860966  (PI: Spencer)
2004-2007         NIH F32 NS048012-01  (PI: Spencer)

Complete CV

Courses
PSY 330 – Behavioral Neuroscience
PSY 391 – Psychology of Sleep
NSB 891L – Neurobiology of Disease (spring 2012 syllabus here)