NOTE: It's coming time to start thinking of next semester's overarching theme. One possibility is "Synaptic plasticity", a broad topic that could include molecular mechanisms as well as population-level patterns of perceptual learning, LTP as well as neuromodulator-regulated changes.  As a BCS topic, of course, the intent would be to choose approaches relevant to behavioral, computational, and systems-level questions.  The relevance/necessity of bidirectional regulation of plasticity would be a prime topic.  Following up on synchrony-dependent timing properties of synaptic plasticity mechanisms would establish a common thread with this semester's theme.  Another, somewhat related theme is a neuroscience version of statistical learning:  anything from perceptual learning to Bayesian representations of coding to temporal difference learning to dopamine (Schultz model) to the underlying synaptic rules that give rise to relevant population level learning properties.  Thoughts?  other ideas?  Send them to Thom or bring them up at BCS. 

Another idea:  Mechanisms of memory consolidation and reconsolidation -- perhaps a more focused version of "synaptic plasticity" as above.  These topics are much more well understood and diverse than they were even a few years ago, and they are leading to a number of exciting hypotheses about systems and behavioral integrative mechanisms.  For example, see Nader & Einarsson (2010) Ann NY Acad Sci 1191:27-41, as well as Jonathan L.C. Lee's recent Nature Neuroscience paper (2008) and Trends in Neurosciences opinion (2010).  

Spring Semester 2009-2010

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