Neuroscience Graduate Program
Catalog pages 388-389
Subject abbreviation: NRSC College of Natural and Agricultural Sciences
Michael E. Adams, Ph.D. Director Biological Sciences Bldg.
- (951) 827-4746; fax: (951) 827-3087
Note No courses other than those listed may be used in the major unless specifically approved by the program chair or the program chair’s designate.
Sample Program
Bachelor of Arts
Freshman Year Fall Winter Spring
CHEM 001A, CHEM 001B, CHEM 001C, CHEM 01LA, CHEM 01LB, CHEM 01LC 4,1 4,1 4,1
BIOL 005A, BIOL 05LA; or BIOL 020, BIOL 005B 3,1 4
ENGL 001A, ENGL 001B, ENGL 001C 4 4 4
MATH 007A or MATH 009A; MATH 007B or MATH 009B 4 4
Humanities/Social Sciences 4
Total Units 13 17 17
Sophomore Year Fall Winter Spring
CHEM 008A and CHEM 008LA, CHEM 008B and CHEM 008LB, CHEM 008C and CHEM 008LC 3,1 3,1 3,1
CBNS 106 4
General Physics 4 4 4
General Physics Lab 1 1 1
Foreign Language 1, 2 4 4
Total Units 17 17 17
Junior Year Fall Winter Spring
PSYC 011 5
Upper-division BIOL, CBNS, or PSYC 4 8 8
Foreign Language 3, 4 4 4
Humanities/Social Sciences 4 4
Total Units 17 16 12
Senior Year Fall Winter Spring
Upper-division BIOL, CBNS, or PSYC 4 4 4
Humanities/Social Sciences 8 4 4
Electives 4 8 8
Total Units 16 16 16
Bachelor of Science
Freshman Year Fall Winter Spring
CHEM 001A, CHEM 001B, CHEM 001C, CHEM 01LA, CHEM 01LB, CHEM 01LC 4,1 4,1 4,1
MATH 007A or MATH 009A; MATH 007B or MATH 009B 4 4
BIOL 005A, BIOL 05LA; or BIOL 020 BIOL 005B 3,1 4
ENGL 001A, ENGL 001B, ENGL 001C 4 4 4
- a) BIOL 005A, BIOL 05LA or BIOL 020, BIOL 005B, BIOL 005C (BIOL 002 and BIOL 003 may be substituted for BIOL 005A,
BIOL 05LA, and BIOL 005B with advisor’s approval.)
CHEM 01LA, CHEM 01LB, CHEM 01LC (or CHEM 01HA and CHEM 1HLA, CHEM 01HB and CHEM 1HLB, CHEM 01HC and CHEM 1HLC, CHEM 008A and CHEM 08LA or CHEM 08HA and CHEM 8HLA or CHEM 12A, CHEM 008B and CHEM 08LB or CHEM 08HB and CHEM 8HLB or CHEM 12B, CHEM 008C and CHEM 08LC or CHEM 08HC and CHEM 8HLC or CHEM 12C
PHYS 02LA, PHYS 02LB, PHYS 02LC; or PHYS 040A, PHYS 040B, PHYS 040C
- 2. Upper-division requirements
Students must complete all required First Tier and Second Tier courses with a grade of “C-” or better and with a cumulative GPA in the courses of at least 2.0. Grades of “D” or “F” in two required courses, either separate courses or repetitions of the same course, are grounds for discontinuation from the major.
- a) First Tier (14 units)
- (1) CBNS 106
- b) Second Tier (at least 12 units for the B.A.
or at least 20 units for the B.S.)
BIOL 178; CBNS 101, CBNS 116, CBNS 121/PSYC 121, CBNS 125/PSYC 125, CBNS 126/PSYC 126, CBNS 127/PSYC 127; CBNS 129, PSYC 112, PSYC 117, PSYC 129
- c) Third Tier (additional units to reach a total
of 36 units for the B.A. or 44 units for the B.S.) Select from upper-division courses listed under Neuroscience Core, Second Tier above not used to satisfy those requirements, and the additional courses listed below. The combined number of units taken under First Tier, Second Tier, and Third Tier must total either 36 if the B.A. is sought or 44 if the B.S. is sought.
BCH 102, BCH 110B, BCH 110C, BCH 120; BIOL 100/ENTM 100, BIOL 102, BIOL 105, BIOL 107A, BIOL 108, BIOL 109, BIOL 110, BIOL 151, BIOL 160, BIOL 161A, BIOL 161B; BIOL 162/ENTM 162; BIOL 171, BIOL 171L, BIOL 173/ ENTM 173, BIOL 175, BIOL 185P; CBNS 108, CBNS 150/ENTX 150, CBNS 165, CBNS 169; up to 9 units from CBNS 194, Neuroscience Undergraduate Major / Neuroscience GraduateProgram / 386
neuroendocrine systems
- • Plasticity in adult central nervous system
- • Regulation of genes specifying neuronal
connections in developing and mature nervous systems
- • Molecular mechanisms that trigger dendritic
spine formation
Areas involving behaviors and diseases include the following:
- • Roles of glial cells in neurological disease
- • Neural control of eating, locomotory, and
social behaviors
- • Neuroendocrine regulation of innate and
social behaviors
- • Neural basis of language and reading
- • Neural networks controlling locomotion in
the spinal cord and brainstem
- • Auditory function in Fragile X Syndrome and
age-related hearing loss
- • Neurolinguistics
- • Individual differences in cortical anatomy
and relation to behavior
- • Learning and memory
- • Mechanisms of neuronal death in
Alzheimer’s disease, stroke, and other disorders
Admission Applicants must meet the general admissions requirements of the Riverside Division of the Academic Senate and the UCR Graduate Council as set forth in the Graduate Studies section of this catalog, including completion of an undergraduate degree (B.S. or B.A.). They should have an adequate background in biological and physical sciences, ideally including courses in the following or equivalent areas: General Biology, Genetics, General Chemistry, Organic Chemistry, Physics, Calculus, and Statistics. Additionally, at least 20 quarter-units of courses distributed among the following areas are required, although applicants may be admitted with limited course work deficiencies and required to make up deficiencies as specified by the admissions committee: Biochemistry; Cell Biology; Molecular Biology; Physiology; Animal Behavior; Learning and Memory; Perception; Computer Science; and Neuroscience, Neurobiology, or Physiological Psychology, with laboratory.
Doctoral Degree
Course Work Core requirements include:
Neuroscience) NRSC 200B/PSYC 200B (Systems Neurosci- ence) NRSC 200C/PSYC 200C (Behavioral Neuro- science)
- 2. One Research Methods course selected from
CBNS 120L/PSYC 120L, CHEM 125, CHEM 221A, CHEM 221B, CHEM 221C, CHEM 221D, NRSC 201, PHYS 139L, PSYC 211
- 3. Two courses or one course sequence
selected from the following: BCH 110A, BCH 110B, BCH 110C, BCH 241/CHEM 241, BIOL 200/CMDB 200, BIOL 201/CMDB 201, The goal of this program is to prepare students for careers in research, teaching and scien- tific administration. The program is aimed at providing high-quality graduate training for students who come from a variety of under- graduate backgrounds but share a commitment and an intense interest in nervous system research. Students are expected to learn the fundamentals of neuroscience, starting with a required core sequence, become knowledge- able concerning a range of research methods as taught in neuroscience laboratories and demonstrate capability in original research. Graduate student training reflects the research competence and specialties of the faculty. That is, the specific research training received by a graduate student is the responsibility of the major professor/mentor in whose laboratory the student carries out the research projects leading to the degree. Students benefit from an interdisciplinary training approach, tailored by the major advisor but enriched by the readily available expertise and laboratory facilities of program faculty with backgrounds ranging from chemistry to psychology.
Current UCR Neuroscience faculty have major appointments in several different departments but have a considerable degree of common interest in research problems and techniques. Furthermore, the three chief levels of analysis at which nervous systems are currently studied (molecular/cellular, systems, and behavioral) are more or less evenly represented by the interests and expertise of the faculty. Some faculty, as may be expected, carry out research programs that combine two or more of these levels of analysis. These levels of analysis, which characterize the faculty’s research, indicate the breadth of integrated neuroscience at UCR but do not represent “fields of emphasis” in which students are to be trained.
Areas that faculty investigate include the following:
- • Glial–neuron interactions
- • Physiological actions of ion channel toxins
- • Modulation of ion channels by
neurotransmitters and hormones
- • Auditory processing
- • Synaptic transmission and neural plasticity in
mammalian nervous systems
- • Signal transduction in excitable cells
- • Sensory and perceptual processes
- • Molecular biology of ion channel structure
and function
- • Receptor–channel interactions
- • Function of ligand-gated ion channels in
neurons
- • Influence of specific receptor proteins on
function
- • Synaptic and non-synaptic mechanisms in
Professors Michael E. Adams, Ph.D. (Cell Biology and Neuroscience/Entomology) John Andersen, Ph.D. (Psychology) Curt Burgess, Ph.D. (Psychology) Monica J. Carson, Ph.D. (Biomedical Sciences) Christine Chiarello, Ph.D. (Psychology) Iryna M. Ethell, Ph.D. (Biomedical Sciences) Byron D. Ford, Ph.D. (Biomedical Sciences) Theodore Garland, Jr., Ph.D. (Biology) Xiaoping Hu. Ph.D. (Bioengineering) Marcus Kaul, Ph.D. (Biomedical Sciences) Manuela Martins-Green, Ph.D. (Cell Biology and Neuroscience) Thomas H. Morton, Ph.D. (Chemistry) Wendy G. Saltzman, Ph.D. (Biology) Aaron Seitz, Ph.D. (Psychology) B. Glenn Stanley, Ph.D. (Cell Biology and Neuroscience/Psychology) Raphael Zidovetzki, Ph.D. (Cell Biology and Neuroscience) Associate Professors Devin Binder, M.D. Ph.D. (Biomedical Sciences) Djurdjica Coss, Ph.D. (Biomedical Sciences) Margarita C. Currás-Collazo, Ph.D. (Cell Biology and Neuroscience) Scott N. Currie, Ph.D. (Cell Biology and Neuroscience) Anupama Dahanukar, Ph.D. (Entomology) Todd Fiacco, Ph.D. (Cell Biology and Neuroscience) Martin I. Garcia-Castro, Ph.D. (Biomedical Sciences) Peter W. Hickmott, Ph.D. (Psychology) Kelly J. Huffman, Ph.D. (Psychology) Edward Korzus, Ph.D. (Psychology) Anandasankar Ray, Ph.D. (Entomology) Khaleel Razak, Ph.D. (Psychology) Seema Tiwari-Woodruff, Ph.D. (Biomedical Sciences) Emma Wilson, Ph.D. (Biomedical Sciences) Assistant Professors Jun-Hyeong Cho, Ph.D. (Cell Biology and Neuroscience) Ilana Bennett, Ph.D. (Psychology) Nicholas V. DiPatrizo, Ph.D. (Biomedical Sciences) Sachiko Haga-Yamanaka, Ph.D. (Cell, Biology and Neuroscience) Timothy Higham, Ph.D (Biology) Sara Mednick, Ph.D. (Psychology) Kalina Michalska, Ph.D. (Psychology) Martin Riccomagno, Ph.D. (Cell Biology and Neuroscience) Jon A. Willits, Ph.D. (Psychology) Rachel Wu, Ph.D. (Psychology) Naoka Yamanaka, Ph.D. (Entomology) Hongdian Yang, Ph.D. (Cell, Biology and Neuroscience) Edward Zagha, Ph.D. (Psychology) Weiwei Zhang, Ph.D. (Psychology) Sika Zheng, Ph.D. (Biomedical Sciences)
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Adjunct Professor Andre Obenaus, Ph.D. Shu-Wei (Richard) Sun, Ph.D.