Timing of Behaviour

Uitgebreide vaknaam	Timing of Behaviour
Leerdoelen	Gaining insight in the major developments in the field of chronobiology, with emphasis on mechanism and function of endogenous biological timing. 1. Getting acquainted with chronobiological terminology 2. Getting an overview of up-to-date chronobiological knowledge 3. Learn to summarize scientific publications and to present the summary 4. Learn to ask major scientific questions and discuss them with others 5. Learn to link the results of one study to others 6. Learn to design chronobiological experiments
Omschrijving	The course comprises 17 full days. During the first 4 of these days, the focus will be on terminology and basic knowledge in chronobiology. After a general introduction, those students who attended the bachelor course in Chronobiology will be given well defined portions of information to help teach to the students who do not have this background knowledge. Test sessions will be scheduled to verify that the knowledge level of the students is sufficient to enter the next phase in the course. In that phase (course days 5-13) the students practice the application of knowledge in the field of chronobiology. This will primarily deal with circadian and annual rhythms. The students read about those chronobiological topics and present to each other about what they have found. Among the topics to be dealt with are photobiology, electrophysiology, circadian entrainment, phase response curves, circadian behaviour, photoperiodism, oscillator theory, neurogenomics, sleep, mathematical modeling, statistics. The papers will also cover the relevant chronobiological methodology. Critical discussions will arise under supervision of the teacher of the course. While the focus in the beginning of the course will be on the message and the methods, with increasing overview the questions on innovation and critical experiments will increase in importance. During the final 4 days of the course, the students will select a chronobiological topic according to their own interest. They will present and defend their review of this topic in the group. As an intermezzo to the course, 2 of the weekly research seminars of the chronobiology group will be selected by the teacher, to be attended by the students. The content will be systematically discussed afterwards.
Uren per week
Onderwijsvorm	Hoorcollege (LC), Opdracht (ASM) (During the course the students make an account of their contribution to the course and they make notes of the contributions of others. The account will serve as the basis for the final judgement.)
Toetsvorm	Presentatie (P) (The final score is composed of a judgement of the input of the student to the sessions, in combination with a judgement of the quality of the final presentation.)
Vaksoort	master
Coördinator	dr. P. Meerlo
Docent(en)	dr. R. Havekes ,prof. dr. R.A. Hut ,dr. P. Meerlo ,prof. dr. M.E. Visser , T. Woelders, MSc.
Entreevoorwaarden	This course is available for BCN research master students only. No specific further prior training required.
Opmerkingen	The students will have access to the syllabus of the bachelor course on Chronobiology. This will serve as background information on terminology and up-to-date state of the art overview of modern chronobiology. In addition, scientific publications are being used as they become available through Pubmed etcetera, as well as handbooks when needed. In all discussions a series of basic questions will recur: What is the message of the paper; is this new; what is the impact; what methods are being used; do we know those methods (if not we read about them as a new task); is the paper on function or on mechanism; if the paper is on mechanisms, what can we say about function; if it is on function, how about mechanisms; what kind of experiment would be necessary as a follow-up or as a critical test; how would such an experiment be designed. Subsets of students take turns in having the task of preparing answers to those questions.
Opgenomen in	Opleiding Jaar Periode Type MSc Behavioural and Cognitive Neurosciences; Research master  (BCN B track) 1 semester I a mandatory B-track