Individuality of Behaviour: Genes, Ontogeny and Neurobiology

Uitgebreide vaknaam	Individuality of Behaviour: Genes, Ontogeny and Neurobiology
Leerdoelen	At the end of the course, the student is able to: 1) describe and summarize the recent developments in behavioral (epi)genetics & neurobiology 2) outline and examine the recent developments in the prenatal and neonatal conditions affecting adult behavior 3) demonstrate the role of gene-environment interactions in the development of individuality 4) critically evaluate the usefulness of various molecular genetic approaches in behavioral neuroscience 5) summarize and integrate scientific publications and to present this. 6) address major scientific issues and (statistical) methodologies, and to apply them and discuss with others 7) develop new hypotheses and to design experiments aimed to support or falsify these hypotheses 8) Apply proper statistical methods to analyze individual variation in behavioral effects of pharmacological treatments.
Omschrijving	In wildlife, human and laboratory animal populations a considerable variability exists among individuals in their trait-like patterns of behavioral and physiological responses to salient environmental challenges and opportunities. This individual variation in so-called stress coping styles (also termed behavioral syndromes, temperament or personalities) has an important functional role in terms of health and fitness of the individual, the maintenance of social stability of groups and population dynamics of the species. Hence, comprehensive understanding of the (epi)genetic, neural and molecular determinants of coping style variation is fundamental for not only the field of biobehavioral neurosciences in probing individual disease susceptibility, but also for ecology and evolutionary biology. In particular, biomedical research has struggled with individual variation ever since its existence. Clearly, it is not the average population that gets a certain disease, but usually specific individuals under specific environmental conditions. Likewise, the therapeutic efficacy and/or side-effect profile of pharmacological treatments of pathologies are highly variable between individuals. Hence, a major challenge of current biological and biomedical research is to understand the genetic, ontogenetic and neurobiological basis of individuality. During this course, the student will be made familiar with the recent scientific views, concepts and discussions on the (epi)genetic, developmental and neuromolecular origin of individual differentiation in behavior and physiology and its function. Moreover, the students will instructed how to properly apply statistical methodology for analyzing experimental data revolving around individual variation in behavioral effects of pharmacological treatments.
Uren per week
Onderwijsvorm	Hoorcollege (LC), Opdracht (ASM), Practisch werk (PRC), Werkcollege (T) (All lectures, group discussion sessions and presentations are mandatory)
Toetsvorm	Opdracht (AST), Practisch werk (PR), Presentatie (P), Schriftelijk tentamen (WE) (The final score is composed of a judgement of the input of the student to the various discussion sessions, in combination with a judgement of the oral presentations and written reports, as well as the written exam score.)
Vaksoort	master
Coördinator	dr. S.F. de Boer
Docent(en)	dr. S.F. de Boer ,prof. dr. A.G.G. Groothuis
Entreevoorwaarden	This course is available for BCN research master students only.
Opmerkingen	This course was registered last year with course code MLBCNB04
Opgenomen in	Opleiding Jaar Periode Type MSc Behavioural and Cognitive Neurosciences: Behavioural Neurosciences  (Compulsory course units) 1 semester I b verplicht MSc Behavioural and Cognitive Neurosciences: Cognitive Neuroscience & Modelling  (Electives: courses from other tracks) 2 semester I b keuze MSc Behavioural and Cognitive Neurosciences: Molecular & Clinical Neurosciences  (Electives: courses from other tracks) 2 semester I b keuze