BIO 325 Laboratory 1

LABORATORY SCHEDULE

			CLASS/LAB EXERCISES AND DISCUSSIONS
W	Date			Monday	Wednesday	Thursday Lab	Friday
1	Jan 8-12			Course Intro	Neurons	Lab 1 – Electro-physiological Instrumentation	Lab 2a - PowerLab Tutorial
2	Jan 15-19			No Class – MLK Holiday	Lab 2b - PowerLab Tutorial	Lab 3 - Electric Fish [A]	Electric Circuits
3	Jan22-26			Lab 5a - DIYN RC Circuits	Lab 5b - DIYN RC Circuits	Lab 4 - Crayfish IIIs [A]	Membrane Potentials & Currents
4	Jan 29-Feb 2			Estimates of the Resting Potential	Equivalent Circuit - Compartment	Lab 4 - Crayfish IIIs [A]	Lab 6a -NIA Resting Potentials [C]
5	Feb 5-9			Equivalent Circuit - Distributed	Lab 6b - NIA Passive Spread [C]	Lab 7 - Crayfish Muscle RPs [A]	Lab 8a - DIYN Cable Properties [B]
6	Feb 12-16			Lab 8b - DIYN Cable Properties [B]	Review/ Catchup	Midterm I	Action Potentials
7	Feb 19-23			Lab 9a – DIYN AP Simulation [B]	Lab 9b - DIYN AP Simulation [B]	Lab 7 - Crayfish Muscle RPs [A]	AP Mechanism H-H Voltage Clamp
8	Feb 26- Mar 1			Lab 10a - NIA Voltage Clamp [C]	Lab 10b - NIA Voltage Clamp [C]	Lab 12 - Snail Brain Recording [A]	Lab 11a - NIA Action Potentials [C]
	Mar 4-8			No Class - Spring Break	No Class - Spring Break	No Lab – Spring Break	No Class - Spring Break
9	Mar 11-15			Lab 11b - NIA Action Potentials [C]	On Beyond H-H	Lab 12 - Snail Brain Recording [A]	Action Potential Propagation Mechanism
10	Mar 18-22			Lab 13a - NIA AP Propagation [C]	Lab 13b - NIA AP Propagation [C]	Lab 16 - Crayfish NMJ [A]	Synapses - Chemical vs. Electrical
11	Mar 25-29			Lab 14a - NIA PSPs [C]	Lab 14b - NIA PSP Integration [C]	Lab 16 & 17 - Crayfish NMJ & Neuroplasticity [A]	No Class -Easter Break
12	Apr 1-5			Summation & Neuronal Integration	Review/ Catchup	Midterm II	Lab 15a - DIYN Electrical Synapses [B]
13	Apr 8-12			No Class - Solar Eclipse	Lab 15b - DIYN Electrical Synapses [B]	Lab 17 - Crayfish Neuroplasticity [A]	Neuroplasticity Mechanisms
14	Apr 15-19			Sensory Coding	Sensory Processing	Lab 18 - Crayfish Stretch Receptor [A]	Spike Trains - Correlational Analysis
15	Apr 22-26			Field Potentials	Sensorimotor Integration	Lab 19 – Fly ERG [A]	Sensorimotor Integration
16	Apr 29 –May 1			Review/ Catchup*	Review/ Catchup*
Finals Week	May 2 May 4			Thursday Reading Day Final Exam Saturday, May 4 @ 5:30 PM*
LAB WRITEUPS: [A] - 4 of 8 [B] - 2 of 3 [C] - 2 of 5		*The class portion of the final exam will have the same written format as the midterm exams. The lab portion of the Final Exam is a 1 on 1 verbal final to be scheduled with the instructor during the final week of class. It will focus on laboratory instrumentation and methods.

As you have no doubt noticed, this is a uniquely lab-centered course. 50% grade is based directly on the products of your successful participation in the laboratory exercises. The remaining 50% of your grade is based indirectly on what you learn; primarily during the laboratory exercises. It will be essential in this course to keep up with the readings and computer simulations, come to each class/lab session completely prepared, participate fully throughout each session, keep careful track of your data, and turn in your laboratory assignments in a timely manner.

Laboratory Participation

If you reliably show up for labs, work well with your lab partners, and contribute your fair share, you should learn and understand enough to do fairly well in the course. If you skip labs, don't pull your weight, sit around and watch others work, whine a lot, and generally let down your lab partners, you may find yourself entirely dependent upon their (probably exhausted) goodwill to survive the course at all.

Data Sheets

With luck there will be nineteen laboratory exercises in this course. Three of the early exercises are Introductory Labs, designed primarily as learning experiences. Although you will not be turning in any results from these labs and will not be directly graded on your participation in them, it is important that you complete these labs. If you try to skip or gloss over these labs, you will be missing essential skills and concepts that will be essential for the graded labs. The midterm and final exams will draw on your understanding of these introductory labs. In particular, the verbal lab final will rely heavily on material learned (or not learned) in these labs.

The remaining sixteen laboratories are divided into four categories, color-coded above:

Set A - Organismal Recording Labs - Eight labs involve surgical preparation and recording of neural or bioelectrical signals from real biological organisms, most commonly crayfish. You will need to turn in Data Sheets for four of these nine labs.

Set B - Electronic Simulation Labs - Three labs involve setup and recording recording from hardware electronic models which emulate specific aspects of neuronal structure and behavior. You will need to turn in Data Sheets for two of these.

Set C - Computer Simulation Labs - Five labs involve working through sets of computer simulations of neuronal behavior and generating representative traces or plots from the output of those simulations. You will need to turn in Data Sheets for two of these.

Each Data Sheet is a concise set results from a single laboratory exercise. These results will be in the form of annotated recording "traces", data tables, well-labeled graphs, and occasionally answers to specific questions. The exact contents of each data sheet will be specified in the guide to that particular lab. Each Data Sheet is due within two calendar weeks of the completion of that particular lab exercise.

The laboratory portion of the final exam will be a one-on-one verbal examination which you will schedule with the instructor. As specified in the syllabus, the exam will focus the methodology of the course, especially that pertaining to surgical procedures and electrophysiological recording/analysis.

This laboratory centers physically around four computer-based electrophysiology recording and analysis systems. Each of these consists of a PC, a multi-channel PowerLab box, and PowerLab software. The computers are named Margaret, Julia, Mary, and Bebbie (in honor of four women who contributed significantly to establishing and equipping this laboraroty space). These computers are here for your use IN THIS COURSE. In general, they will be on virtually 24-hours a day. The only significant downtime will be when they are being physically moved from room to room. Each computer has its own color printer and is connected to the web via a wireless hub.

You can use these computers any time the room is free, and store your data on the hard drives, as long as you obey the following rules:

1) Use only the PhysStudent login. This login is password protected. DO not share the password with other students who are not in this course. DO NOT USE THE INSTRUCTOR LOGIN.

2) To gain network access you may have to use the wesleyanne login and cccr pasword.

3) Please store your files in an orderly manner, within appropriate and well-labeled folders. Back up your files on your own floppy or personal computer hard drive as soon as possible after creating them. Be advised that any files left on the computer “desktop” may be thrown away at my discretion.

8) Don't use the computers or printers for coursework other than in the Biology or Neurosceince programs.

9) Don't mess with other people's files, rename the hard drives, or change other setups.

11) Report any computer housekeeping or etiquette problems to the instructor as soon as possible, especially any issues related to the printers.

Laboratory study and investigation can be both fun and rewarding; however it can involve a certain amount of risk due to the nature of the equipment (e. g. glassware, hot plates, scalpels, high voltage power supplies), specimens (e. g. Ascaris, bacteria, mammalian blood) and/or chemicals (e. g. formalin, hydrochloric acid, sodium hydroxide, neurotoxins) used. In order to minimize the chances of accidents and injury, the following general precautions must be followed in all scientific laboratories:

3. Know the location of fire extinguishers, eye-wash stations, fire blankets, safety showers, first aid stations, and containers for broken glass.

5. Be sure that electrical cords (e. g. of microscopes and hot plates) are out of the way of traffic. Tuck them under the desk.

-- Remove beakers with hot plates using a suitable protective device (e. g. insulated

-- if chemicals get into your eyes or on your skin, FLUSH THE AFFECTED AREAS WITH COPIOUS AMOUNTS

-- Do not attempt to clean up such spills yourself (NOTE: This includes broken thermometers, which contain toxic

10. Be sure to sign the lab safety sheet and return the signed lab copy to the lab instructor.