What to expect from your Neuroscience course

Neuroscience is one of the most rapidly evolving and exciting areas of biomedical science. Combining elements of biology, chemistry, mathematics, medicine and psychology (among others), it is a truly interdisciplinary exploration of the central nervous system, allowing for students to build and nurture cross-curricular knowledge.

Co-taught between the School of Biological and Behavioural Sciences and Barts and the London School of Medicine and Dentistry, our Neuroscience programme combines the strengths of both Schools, their academic experts and their state-of-the-art facilities.

The result is a programme which equips you with a solid grounding of all the fundamentals of Neuroscience, while allowing you the freedom to specialise and pursue your interests.

You’ll be introduced to the development and anatomy of the nervous system in Functional Neuroanatomy (BMD163). This module spans a comprehensive range of topics vital to the understanding of the subject, including nervous system development, axonal and dendritic growth. The knowledge acquired in lectures is supported by practical workshops where you’ll master accurate observation and annotation skills, and functional neuroanatomy.

At the end of this module, you will have proficiency in a vast range of skills and key attributes:

• Describing approaches used to study neuroanatomical structures.
• Demonstrating understanding of the basic cellular organisation of the nervous system.
• Showing appreciation of how the organisation of the adult nervous system relates to its early development.
• Displaying understanding of the structure and function of different components of the central nervous system (CNS).
• Identifying major subdivisions of the brain and spinal cord.
• Interpreting the neuroanatomical organisation the nervous system in relation to its functions.
• Making accurate observations and annotations of cross sectional structures.
• Demonstrating an awareness of approaches used to study neuroanatomical structures.
• Participating constructively as a member of a group/team.
• Planning and managing time effectively and begin to be independent learners.
• Communicate effectively by written and verbal means.

Through Perspectives on Brain Disorders (BMD369) final-year students will gain an in-depth understanding of the fundamental mechanisms of complex brain disorders. Current therapies will be critically evaluated from a pharmacological perspective. Emerging concepts and the rationale of new therapeutic approaches in neurology and psychiatry will be discussed in the module.

On completion of this module, the key skills and attributes you will have developed are:

• Demonstrating a systematic understanding of neuropathological processes underlying complex brain disorders.
• Identifying cellular mechanisms underlying complex brain disorders.
• Showing a critical awareness of scientific research methods used to study brain disorders.
• Critically appraising and interpreting scientific evidence from primary research articles.
• Integrating information from a variety of sources including primary research articles to construct a coherent argument.
• Analysing and evaluating different models of brain disorders.
• Communicating effectively by written and verbal means.
• Evaluating the relevance and reliability of information from a variety of sources.
• Demonstrating an awareness of the clinical and translational aspects of neuroscience research.