The course is a literature seminar or "journal club". Each Friday a student, or a member of the Suter Lab in the Institute of Molecular Health Sciences, will present a paper from the recent literature.
Learning objective
The course introduces you to recent developments in the fields of cellular and molecular neurobiology. It also supports you to develop your skills in critically reading the scientific literature. You should be able to grasp what the authors wanted to learn e.g. their goals, why the authors chose the experimental approach they used, the strengths and weaknesses of the experiments and the data presented, and how the work fits into the wider literature in the field. You will present one paper yourself, which provides you with practice in public speaking.
Content
You will present one paper yourself. Give an introduction to the field of the paper, then show and comment on the main results (all the papers we present are available online, so you can show original figures with a beamer). Finish with a summary of the main points and a discussion of their significance. You are expected to take part in the discussion and to ask questions. To prepare for this you should read all the papers beforehand (they will be announced a week in advance of the presentation).
Lecture notes
Presentations will be made available after the seminars.
Literature
We cover a range of themes related to development and neurobiology. Before starting your preparations, you are required to check with Laura Montani (laura.montani@biol.ethz.ch), who helps you with finding an appropriate paper.
Prerequisites / Notice
You must attend at least 80% of the journal clubs, and give a presentation of your own. At the end of the semester there will be a 30 minute oral exam on the material presented during the semester. The grade will be based on the exam (45%), your presentation (45%), and a contribution based on your active participation in discussion of other presentations (10%).