CrawFly Invertebrate Neurophysiology Workshop June 2023
Cornell University
Ithaca, NY, United States
June 12-16, 2023
Registration
Please visit the Eventbrite page for the workshop for further details and to register. Seats are limited so don't wait!
Course Overview
ADInstruments and the Department of Biology at Cornell University will co-host a 5 day hands-on workshop for higher education life science instructors seeking to expand their curriculum reach in the neurosciences.
The training event will be based on topics explored in the “Crawdad Project,” a three-year program funded by the National Science Foundation to promote the use of invertebrates in undergraduate physiology and neuroscience lab courses. The goals of this hosted workshop are to provide teachers hands-on experience with invertebrate preparations that demonstrate basic principles of nervous system physiology, and can easily be incorporated into laboratory courses back home.
**2 Scholarships are available for this workshop - please see information below. The application deadline is May 6th.**
Course Agenda
CRAWDAD:
Topics to be covered:• Motor innervation • Neuroanatomy • Sensory systems • Ionic bases of resting and action potentials • Synaptic transmission • Synaptic plasticity • Central pattern generation for rhythmic motor activity
Skills to be covered: • Neuromuscular Intro - Preparations used in Crayfish Motor Nerve, Resting Potential, Axonal conduction velocity; Rhythmic Motor Activity and Synaptic labs • Dissecting Tips - General advice on successful dissection • Recording Tips - Background and troubleshooting for extra- and intracellular computer based data acquisition • Data Analysis - including spike sorting, matching presynaptic action potentials with postsynaptic potentials; measuring AP conduction velocity; calculating time constants for sensory receptor adaptation
FRUITFLY: These exercises will introduce educators to modern neurogenetic techniques in the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster.
Topics to be covered:• Drosophila genetics• Optogenetics• ERG recording• Animal behavior• Synaptic transmission • Synaptic plasticity
Skills to be covered: • Generating and rearing transgenic Drosophila• Using tissue specific genetic expression techniques• Building inexpensive systems for optogenetic experiments• Quantitative analysis of animal behavior• Recording excitatory junctional potentials at the larval neuromuscular junction• Recording electroretinograms from wild type and mutant animals• Recording action potential in flight muscles through optogenetic stimulation of the Giant Fiber system
**A detailed schedule will be provided one week before the workshop.
Scholarships
ADInstruments is pleased to announce our Neurobiology Educator Development Scholarship award to help offset the costs of attendance and travel to any ADInstruments-hosted neurobiology course.
Please visit our Neurobiology Scholarship Application Webform to learn more about the award requirements and to submit your proposal. Two scholarships will be awarded. All application materials must be submitted no later than 11:59 PM (MST) May 6, 2023. You do not need to register for the course to apply for this scholarship. Seats to the CrawFly course are being held specifically for recipients of the scholarship. Scholarship winners will be announced by May 12, 2023.
Housing
Housing will be made available through Cornell University. Housing portal will open shortly for those who register for the workshop, stay tuned.