CMBN research seminar (forskerkurs):
Molecular biology and neuroscience

Wednesday 14 May - Thursday 15 May 2003
Main auditorium at Rikshospitalet.
Sign up before 15 April 2003 by email to elin.corneliussen@basalmed.uio.no.

Scope

The objective of the course is to highlight key aspects of molecular biology and molecular medicine with emphasis on the role of DNA damage and repair in the pathogenesis of neurological diseases, and to improve our understanding of how nerve cells communicate in the healthy and diseased brain. Topics addressed will be genome maintenance, cellular fitness, stem cell biology, brain development, microbe-host interactions, trans-membrane transport, synaptic communication and informatics. The new information provided is aimed at building an innovative basis for the development of new approaches for treatment of brain disease and age-related neurological impairment.

Wednesday May 14

09:00 Welcoming address (OPO)

Introductory lectures

09:05 Concepts and methods in molecular biology (ES)

09:50 Comprehensive neuroscience: From molecules to CNS disease (OPO)

10:30 Coffee break

New trends in neuroscience

10:40 Peter Somogyi: From molecular diversity of GABA receptors to circuits and spike timing in the hippocampus

11:30 Break

DNA repair in neurological disease

11:40 General mechanisms of DNA repair (AK)

12:10 Markers of genetic toxicology (ES)

12:30 Lunch

Molecular aspects of synaptic transmission

13:00 Providing the transmitter: synthesis, storage and metabolism (JSM)

13:40 Neurotransmitter inactivation (NCD)

14:20 Break

14:30 Synaptic transmission: regulation of synaptic activity (JS)

15:10 Molecules and neurological disease: identification of a specific pool of water channel molecules (aquaporins) that governs water influx in brain edema (OPO)

15:40 Live cell imaging: the potentials and promises of multiphoton laser scan microscopy (OPO)

Thursday May 15

Microbial pathogenesis: How do bacteria cause CNS infections?

09:00 Delivery and targets of microbial pathogen effectors (MK)

09:45 Genome instability and microbial pathogenesis (TT)

10:30 Coffee break

Bioinformatics and neuroinformatics

10:45 Bioinformatics tools for exploring gene relationships in genome sequence databases (TR)

11:30 Break

11:40 Neuroinformatic databases (JB)

12:00 Principles of computerized 3-D reconstruction: from molecules to tissues (JB)

12:30 Lunch

Genetic model organisms and transgenics

13:15 Construction of transgenic mice (AK)

Neuro-therapeutic potential of stem cells

14:00 Stem cells: overview of stem cell biology and therapeutic potential (SK)

14:45 Break

15:00 – 16:00 Course exam

16:30 Cheese and wine