The purpose of this survey is to have a feedback on these first weeks of course and help me to evaluate your attitudes towards thinking and learning. There are no 'right' or 'wrong' answers; I'm interested only in your opinion. Please be assured that your responses will be treated with a high degree of confidentiality (I set the anonymous function), and will not affect your assessment.
All questions are required and must be answered.
Dead line Thursday, 26 March
Watch the video to get an overview of what is about Developmental Neurobiology!
This Video belongs to:
JoVE Science Education Database. Essentials of Neuroscience. An Introduction to Developmental Neurobiology. JoVE, Cambridge, MA, doi: 10.3791/5207 (2016) -copyright protected
To access the material of the online course:
1) go to https://start.unito.it/
2) In course categories select Scientific Area
3) Select Developmental Neurobiology
4) Explore Unit 1 - Section 1: Basic Concepts in Developmental Biology (for this week let's focus only on Section 1)
5) Perform Task 1 related to Basic Concepts (see below)
This workshop is dedicated to basic concepts in developmental biology.
Students are invited to build a concept map based on the material found on the platform start@unito and to assess the work of their peers (in anonymous form) providing feedback. It's mandatory to have a positive attitude towards the work of your colleagues, but at the same time, it's important to try to be critical in order to improve your work and that of your colleagues.
It's important that all students take part in the task!
NEW! dead line for assessment is March 20th (Friday)
This week we will focus on the main signaling pathways involved in neural development.
1) go to Topic 1 - Section 2 on the start@unito platform
2) watch the screencasts
3) read the Instant Notes
4) read the two review articles cited in the bibliography of the Instant Notes
5) you can answer to the Unit 1 quiz
5) Build a Concept Map (to be uploaded on the CMB moodle platform) on one aspect you find particularly interesting on that topic (it can be one or more signaling pathways, concepts related to cell competence or the graded response...or any other topic related to the subject).
Choose one aspect of your interest in this week's topic and develop your own concept map.
Dead line for submission is March 16 - dead line for assessment March 23
This week we will focus on Animal Models
1) go to Topic 2 - Section 1 on the start@unito platformTASK - Reading and understanding
Read following review articles to gain more insights on specific aspects related to the use of non-mammalian animal models to study human neurodevelopmental disorders. In reading these articles try to highlight the main advantages offered by the discussed models, their intrinsic limitations and try to compare them. List the types of neurodevelopmental disorders considered in the reviews and their main features. Starting from these notes, write a short report with your considerations (max 600 words).
Read the review: Modeling human neurodevelopmental disorders in the Xenopus tadpole: from mechanisms to therapeutic targets by K.G. Pratt & A.S. Khakhalin - Disease Models & Mechanisms 2013 6: 1057-1065; doi: 10.1242/dmm.012138 (open access)
Read the review: Zebrafish models of neurodevelopmental disorders: Past, Present and Future by C.Sakai, S Ljaz and E. Hoffman. Frontiers in Molecular Neuroscience (2018) doi: 10.3389/fnmol.2018.00294 (open access)
Dead line for submission March, 23 - dead line for assessment March, 30
This week we will be dedicated to explore some of the main experimental approaches used in the field of developmental biology
"Exploring landscapes of brain morphogenesis with organoids" by D. Jabaudon & M. Lancaster. Development 2018 145: dev172049, doi: 10.1242/dev.172049 Published 19 November 2018 (open access)
This article summarizes the common themes that emerged from a workshop organized by The Company of Biologists entitled ‘Thinking beyond the dish: taking in vitro neural differentiation to the next level’, in which developmental biologists, engineers, chemists and cellular biologists met to discuss and think about the next steps in organoid technologies, with a particular focus on the brain.
Read the article and build a concept map highlighting the main features, advantages, limitations, and future applications of this technology.
Dead line for submission has been postponed to April, 1 - dead line for assessment April, 15
Explore the external resources on the start@unito platform Unit2-Section2 (Bio-protocols and Jove videos). Choose one experimental approach or method relevant for developmental neurobiology among those presented and write a short report (600 words max) explaining the main features and relevance in the field.
Dead line for submission has been postponed to April, 1 - dead line for assessment April, 15
The main objective of the material proposed this week is to promote the understanding of early neural development and to this aim you will have to work on the material on the start@unito platform Unit 3 - Section 1
Title: Depletion of Three BMP Antagonists from Spemann's Organizer Leads to a Catastrophic Loss of Dorsal Structures
Students are invited to discuss about the main findings of the article...
What was the main goal of the authors ? which are the most relevant experiments in the study to reach the conclusions? Are all experiments clear to you? any doubts? ....
please share your comments and ideas with your colleagues trying to discuss using the forum
Title: BMP inhibition initiates neural induction via FGF signaling and Zic genes
Students are invited to discuss about the main findings of the article...
What was the main goal of the authors ? which are the most relevant experiments in the study to reach the conclusions? Are all experiments clear to you? any doubts? ....
please share your comments and ideas with your colleagues trying to discuss using the forum
Molecular mechanisms controlling brain development: an overview of neuroepithelial secondary organizers by C. Vieira, A. Pombero, R. Garcia-Lopez, L. Gimeno, D. Echevarria and S. Martinez. Int. J. Dev. Biol. 54: 7-20 (2010) doi: 10.1387/ijdb.092853cv
Students are invited to build one or more concept map based on the topic "Neural induction and patterning" and to assess the work of their peers (in anonymous form) providing feedback.
Remember to have a positive attitude towards the work of your colleagues, but at the same time, try to be critical in order to improve your work and that of your colleagues.
It's important that all students take part in the task!
dead line for the submission April 28
dead line for the peer review April 30
- watch the video on Neural Progenitors
- read the instant notes on neural progenitor potential and generation of cell diversity
- in the external resources: visit Michèle Studer lab website
- perform the task described below (dead line May 4)
Read the original articles that were at the basis of the discovery of RGCs as neural stem progenitor cells, paying particular attention to the experimental approaches used (in vivo? ex vivo? in vitro?; tissue or dissociated cells?), compare them and think about the main advantages and possible limits of each approach.
Write a short report (600 words max) summarizing your thoughts on this topic.
· Malatesta, P., Hartfuss, E. and Götz, M. (2000). Isolation of radial glial cells by fluorescent-activated cell sorting reveals a neuronal lineage. Development 127, 5253-5263. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11076748
· Noctor, S. C., Flint, A. C., Weissman, T. A., Dammerman, R. S. and Kriegstein, A. R. (2001). Neurons derived from radial glial cells establish radial units in neocortex. Nature 409, 714-720.https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11217860
· Miyata, T., Kawaguchi, A., Okano, H. and Ogawa, M. (2001). Asymmetric inheritance of radial glial fibers by cortical neurons. Neuron 31, 727 741.https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11567613
deadline for the submission May 4
deadline for the peer review May 8
Monday, May 4th - 11:00-12:00 - Meeting to discuss about the course organization and next activities
Tuesday, May 5th - 11:00- 13:30 - Lecture on cellular and molecular organization of the cerebral cortical progenitors in mammals (by M. Studer)
Thursday, May 7th - 14:00 - 16:00 - Introduction on advanced methods for neurobiology and Task V1 (by M. Studer)
Monday - May 11 - 14:00-15:00 - Lecture "Acquiring neural diversity in the developing cortex"
Tuesday - May 12 - 11:00-13:00 - Presentation of the EMBO J paper (in press)
Tuesday - May 13 - 14:00-16:00 - "Writing a fellowship proposal" Tips and Task
Monday - May 18 - 14:00-15:00 - Lecture by M. Studer
Tuesday - May 19 - 11:00-13:00 - Presentation by students (advanced technologies)
Tuesday _ May 19 - 14:00-16:00 - Presentation by students (advanced technologies)
in order to share with each of you the individual and group evaluations on this week activity I ask you to access the quiz and answer a question so that I'll send you the evaluation in form of feedback.
(please note that the evaluation refers to your presentation and the answer in the quiz does not influence in any way the evaluation).
Scale for evaluation mark:
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
| poor | satisfactory | good | very good | excellent |
Each group should select a 30' slot to discuss his project with the teachers - please talk each other to agree on the schedule before inserting your choice.
People from the same group must enroll in the same slot
You will receive the invite to connect via webex and you must join the meeting according to the slot chosen by your group
CognomeCognomeCognome_proposal_2020
The surname of each member (alphabetic order) of the group that participated in writing the research proposal must be listed in the name of the file.
Every member of the group must upload the file (please verify is the same for all)
Your final version of the research project and ppt presentation must be uploaded here by May 28 at 9:00 am
All member of each group MUST upload the final version of the Research Proposal (named as follow: Surname_Surname_Surname_proposal_2020)
Only one member/group MUST upload the ppt presentation (pdf version is OK) (please be aware the site upload limit is 64 MB) - if your file is bigger you can send it by email by the same dead line
Guide lines & general information
For a general overview on the basic of circuit development and adult neurogenesis refer to Unit 5 and 6 on the strat@unito platform
- view the short screencasts and read the instant notes
- you are not requested to perform the suggested tasks in terms of reports or concept maps but you are invited to visit the external resources and read at least one of the suggested articles per each unit
- do not hesitate to contact me for any questions
The final exam will take place on the webex platform - students will be required to keep the videocamera open and access to the quiz activity on the moodle platform.
the written exam will last 30' and will consist in:
-10 closed questions (similar to those found in the self-evaluation quiz on the start@unito platform)
+
-2 open questions based on topics covered in lectures, assigned readings, and online activities (you can find examples in the additional material on the start@unito platform).
Following the written exam there will be a short oral exam during which the students will have the opportunity to discuss and better specify its written answers and/or answer to additional questions. The grade obtained in the exam will weight 70% of the final grade
FINAL GRADE= exam (70% weight)+ activities during the course (Tasks and activities during the course will be evaluated and the overall engagement of the students will weight 30% of the final grade)
Students that for any reason did not perform at least 70% of the requested activities during the course will need to contact the professor to define the modality to compensate before attending the exam.