BCS 513: Syllabus

Fall 2010

FIRST LECTURE AND ORGANIZATIONAL MEETING: Friday Sept 3rd at 2:00pm –Meliora Hall, Kresge Room (Room 269)

TENTATIVE TIMES

Main Lectures: Wednesdays 2:00 – 3:20pm - Meliora Hall, Kresge Room (Room 269)

Hands-on: Fridays 2:00- 3:40pm – Rochester Center for Brain Imaging (Medical Center Annex, RCBI conference room)

Personnel

Course Instructors:

Jianhui Zhong -
Daphne Bavelier -

Hands-on help:

Madalina Tivarus -
Merry Many -

There will be no fixed office hours; students should contact their assigned advisor through email and arrange directly with him/her for a meeting.

About the Course

This course will introduce students to the basic physics of MRI and its application in biomedical imaging. We will discuss how the MR technique can take advantage of physiological principles and tissue structure to provide diagnostic image for clinicians and researchers. We will then cover what can be learned about brain functions through MRI. The course is set up with one lecture and one hands-on session per week. Students are required to attend all the regular lectures and all the hand-on sessions.

During the hands-on, students will be introduced to several common software packages for functional brain imaging (fMRI) and related issues in data analysis and study design.

Prerequisites and Requirements

Since the course is open to students with either neuroscience or physics/engineering background, students need some of the following background knowledge, but should also be willing to acquire others during the course.

Good command of basic statistics
Familiarity with linear algebra
Familiarity with neuroscience

Students with no background in Physics are required to study the following materials:
http://www.simplyphysics.com/IntroToMRI.html
http://www.cis.rit.edu/htbooks/mri/inside.htm

Students with no background in Biology/Neuroscience are required to read the following materials:
Biological Psychology by Kalat, James W.; Hardcover (Wadsworth Pub Co, July 1, 2003)
Read the chapters titled: The Major Issues; Nerve Cells and Nerve Impulses; Communication Within the Body: Synapses and Hormones; Anatomy of the Nervous System. This book is used by BCS 110 and is on reserve at the University library.

Readings

The book is reserved in Carlson Library for one-day loan, and can be purchased at the University bookstore

Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging – SECOND EDITION
Scott A. Huettel, Allen W. Song, Gregory McCarthy
Sinauer Associates Incorporated / 2009

Principles of Magnetic Resonance Imaging
Dwight Nishimura

Grading

Surprise Quizzes (all together) 15%
Lab summary (8 of them – can be given at end of lab or at next hands-on) 5% each
Oral presentation project 15%
Final data analysis project 30%

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