Neuropharmacology (3 credits)
[also PSYC 721 – for graduate students]
This course is offered once a year, usually taught by Prof. Wayne Brake, – who is one of my favorite professors
Lectures: Prof. Brake does not use powerpoint slides in his lectures. In my opinion, this is the ideal way to learn. He comes in prepared with his notes, and lectures eloquently. Any new word or important figure will be written/drawn on the chalkboard. This gives students a few extra seconds to catch up on writing. Personally, I am much more satisfied with this approach rather than being introduced to 25-50 new slides per lecture.
Another thing I like about Prof. Brake is that he dedicates a couple of lectures of the semester to invite guest speakers and/or discuss his own latest research.
For students who like to take notes on a laptop: bring a paper and pen with you to class. There are lots of diagrams, which will be difficult to transcribe with a computer (unless you’re using a stylus…). And don’t be that student who is taking pictures of the chalkboard every 2 minutes.
Get a note-buddy for this class.
Paper:
Every student gets to select one drug to write about. No two students can select the same drug, so best to select your drug early on if you think it is a popular one. Either way, the class size is usually about 50 and there are thousands of awesome drugs out there to write on.
Your drug-of-choice must effect the brain in some way. After all, this is a neuropharmacology course.
The paper is very short but is worth up to a fifth of your overall grade. (20%) Based on my fellow peers, it appeared that everyone performed extremely well on this paper (i.e. above 90%)
Your paper must not exceed more than 2 pages. The paper is normally due about halfway into the semester. You will discuss the pharmacodynamics, pharmacokinetics, effects, etc of your drug.
A great resource for this paper is DrugBank (Canadian-based!)
Prof. Brake posts a sample paper to guide you through yours.
Exams:
- Prof. Brake’s exams comprise of fill-in-blanks and short answers
- Fill-in-the-blank questions are explicit.
- Short answer questions can either be to solve a problem (e.g. determine which drug is most potent based on data provided), or to summarize a topic discussed in class (e.g. discuss the various types of antipsychotic medications and how each one targets the brain…)
Extra Links:
- As you can tell from other pages, I love TED-Ed. Here is an extremely oversimplified overview of how drugs are taken up in your body
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