The neuroscience of drugs for therapy, for prevention, and for recreation. Drug addiction and drug abuse. You’ll learn the prospects for new generations of medications in neurology, psychiatry, aging, and treatment of substance abuse.
Drugs and the Brain
Offered By
Caltech
About this Course
3,739 recent views
Learners taking this Course are
- Paramedics
- Psychiatrists
- Psychologists
- Therapists
- Biologists
Syllabus - What you will learn from this course
Week
13 hours to complete
Week 1. Organization and Overview
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11 videos (Total 123 min), 1 quiz
11 videos
2. Organization and Overview, weeks 4- 7 9m
3. What is a Drug? 13m
4. Drug Entry Into the Nervous System 12m
5. Introduction to Drug Receptors 11m
6. More about receptors as proteins 13m
7. Introduction to Mammalian Brains 9m
8. Techniques for Studying the Brain 10m
9. Botulinum toxin 9m
10. Origin of the Resting Potential 10m
11. Electrical Aspects of Ion Channels 8m
1 practice exercise
Quiz on miniLectures 1-1136m
Week
22 hours to complete
Week 2. Dose-response Relations
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10 videos (Total 92 min), 1 quiz
10 videos
2 Quantitative Approaches, Agonist Only 10m
3 Agonists plus Antagonists 7m
1 The Synapse as a Drug-Sensitive Biophysical Machine 8m
2 Nicotinic Acetylcholine Receptors: Activation 10m
3 Nicotinic Acetylcholine Receptors: Desensitization 5m
4 Inhibitory Ligand-gated channels 9m
5 Glutamate-gated receptor channels 11m
1 Pore Blockers at ligand-gated channels 6m
2 Voltage-gated channel blockers 11m
1 practice exercise
Quiz on Week 2 miniLectures32m
Week
33 hours to complete
Week 3. G protein pathways
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10 videos (Total 118 min), 1 quiz
10 videos
2 Inhibitory G Proteins and their Effectors 7m
3 The Stimulatory G Protein (Gs) Pathway 11m
4 The Ca-mobilizing G protein (Gq) pathway; Modifying G protein Pathways 11m
5 “Outside-in” Mechanisms for Long-term Actions on G Protein Pathways 12m
1 Drugs Bind to Neurotransmitter Transporters 15m
2 Neurotransmitter Transporters as Molecules 11m
1 Overview 10m
2 Targets 8m
3 System level effects 14m
1 practice exercise
Quiz on Week 3 miniLectures38m
Week
43 hours to complete
Week 4. Nicotine Addiction
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12 videos (Total 145 min), 1 quiz
12 videos
2 Circuit and cellular level. "Outside-In" Mechanisms 11m
3 Circuit and Cellular Level: Upregulation via “Inside-Out” Mechanisms 16m
4 Recent Genetic Data 13m
5 Drugs for smoking cessation; Harm Reduction 14m
1 Components of Opiate Addiction 10m
2 Circuits and Animal Models 10m
3 “Outside-In” Mechanisms 12m
4 Drugs for Harm Reduction in Opiate Addiction 5m
1 Clinical Description & Genetics 10m
2 Pathophysiology 16m
3 Biomarkers & Therapeutic Approaches 8m
1 practice exercise
Quiz on Week 4 miniLectures30m
Instructor
Henry A. Lester, PhD
Bren ProfessorDivision of Biology and Biological Engineering
About Caltech
Caltech is a world-renowned science and engineering research and education institution, where extraordinary faculty and students seek answers to complex questions, discover new knowledge, lead innovation, and transform our future. Caltech's mission is to expand human knowledge and benefit society through research integrated with education. We investigate the most challenging, fundamental problems in science and technology in a singularly collegial, interdisciplinary atmosphere, while educating outstanding students to become creative members of society.
Frequently Asked Questions
When will I have access to the lectures and assignments?
Once you enroll for a Certificate, you’ll have access to all videos, quizzes, and programming assignments (if applicable). Peer review assignments can only be submitted and reviewed once your session has begun. If you choose to explore the course without purchasing, you may not be able to access certain assignments.
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