Basic Information

 

MEDSCI 317 is an incredibly interesting neuroscience course that builds off of the information from MEDSCI 206. It differs from MEDSCI 316 in that it focuses more on the development and disease of the brain, as well as motor neuroscience e.g. neural coding and spinal circuits, and chronobiology. 

 

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Laboratory Component

 

In 2025, there were three lab assignments and a mini review included in the laboratory component. The first two lab assignments were worksheets on fetal seizures and chronobiology, and the last lab is a full lab report on the H-refex. All of the lab assignments are greatly related to the lectures, so keep up with your lectures!! In addition to these labs, Raj has a report writing tutorial at the start of the semester where he walks students through all the components of a lab report with interactive activities and worksheets for students to apply the theory that was just taught. Overall, the labs were pretty straightforward and were good ways to consolidate information from the lectures. There is also a mini-review where you sign up to a topic proposed by different researchers on a first come first serve basis to then write a mini literature review on it. These researchers will have one tutorial dedicated to giving you background information and a starting point for your assignment. 

 

 

Lecture Content

 

Module 1: Early Brain Development, Injury, and Treatments

 

Module 1 was taught by Dr. Justin Dean and Dr. Joanne Davidson, who were both clear lecturers. Justin’s lectures were on the structural and functional development of the brain, disorder of the developing brain, and preterm and perinatal brain injury. Justin was a straightforward lecturer who was very explicit about the content that was going to be examinable and in which test or exam. If you learn the content in the red boxes of his lectures well and can link everything together, his questions will be very straightforward. 

 

Joanne’s lectures were on the pathophysiology and treatment of cerebral ischaemia. Joanne was a clear and concise lecturer and took on the approach of having half her lecture be theory, and the remaining half be application of that theory. There are some parts of her lectures that are a bit heavy and may require rote-memorisation i.e. definitions of things, equations etc, however a lot of her content can also be mindmapped and linked together. 

Overall, this was a thoroughly enjoyable module and was a good way to ease into the semester. 

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Module 2: Chronobiology and the Human Circadian Rhythm

 

Module 2 builds up from Dr. Guy Warman’s lectures from MEDSCI 206, with additional lectures from Dr. James Cheeseman. Guy starts off the module with a lecture recapping his MEDSCI 206 content before taking a deep dive into the clock location and nature, as well as the molecular basis of circadian rhythm generation. This module from the get-go is already more challenging than Module 1 so make sure to revisit the content after the lecture and practice explaining it in your own words to really consolidate the information. 

 

After the series of lectures by Guy, James follows up with lectures on central and peripheral clocks, development and aging of the clock, and disease of the human circadian clock. The content is similarly heavy and may be a bit hard to wrap your head around initially, but is extremely interesting once you get the hang of it.

 

One thing to note about the lectures in Module 2 is that there are a lot of studies and examples mentioned throughout and it is expected that students understand and can recall these studies in the tests and exams. Frequently, Guy and James will teach a specific concept using a study, and will then reference it explicitly or ask you to reference it explicitly in the test and exam. That being said, their questions are generally quite straightforward, and they break down their short answer questions into smaller parts, rather than one large question stem.

 

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Modules 1 and 2 are tested in the mid-semester test and the final exam. 

 

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Module 3: Motor Neuroscience & Neurorehabilitation

 

Dr. Raj Selvaratnam starts off this module with a recap of motor function from MEDSCI 206, however as you go through the module, while there is some MEDSCI 206 overlap, a lot of the content will be new and taught in greater detail. Dr. Harry Jordan follows up with a lecture on an overview of the motor control system. Dr. Angus McMorland then wraps up the module with four lectures on spinal circuits, neural coding, and brain machine interfaces. Angus’ lectures had a lot of studies and different testing and experimental techniques and different brain machine interfaces that needed to be understood, memorised, and applied. As this is quite different to how all the other lectures have been taught, this content may be a bit hard to grasp at first, however if you tackle it early, you will have more time to revise and understand the material. Personally, this module was one of the more challenging modules of this course. 

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Module 4: Olfaction and Disorders of the Brain

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Prof. Maurice Curtis, and Drs. Blake Highet and Helen Murray discuss olfactory dysfunction in Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s disease, and how to test olfactory function, respectively. These lectures are super interesting, and are full of studies to put some context to the theory. As with Module 2 and 3, these studies are important to understand and remember, especially for Blake and Helen’s lectures where in the past they have asked you to reference, critique, or analyse a study as part of the short answer question. 

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Assoc Prof. Srdjan Valjkovic follows this series with a lecture on autoimmune disorders of the brain. The content is relatively straightforward and could be mindmapped, with some details that might need to be rote memorised. Srdjan’s questions are often quite straightforward, and having only one lecture, there’s only so much that could be asked. 

Finally, Prof. Johanna Montgomery finishes off this module with a lecture series on synaptic function and plasticity, and synapse disease, a direct build up from Dr. Justin Rustenhoven’s content on Synapses and Plasticity in MEDSCI 206. This content was also straightforward and concise, so it might be easier to grasp than content from previous modules, especially since you would have background knowledge. Johanna is also quite explicit with what she is expecting and her questions have been clear as well. 

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Overall, this was an extremely rich and fascinating module to wrap up MEDSCI 317. 

 

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Modules 3 and 4 are tested in the end-of-semester test and the final exam. 

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Final tips

 

This is definitely not a course that you can cram. There is a lot of content, with a lot of that content being new and needing time to get past the learning curve. It is important to pace yourself and make sure that you have organised your time well, especially in the second half of the semester when assignments will be due around the same time as your end-of-semester test and final exam. Try to revise modules 1 and 2 throughout the second half of the semester as well because the final exam, where everything will be tested, will come on pretty quick. #spacedrepetition.

 

If you’re down bad for neuroscience, this is the course for you. While at times challenging, as with many things in life, this course is rewarding in the knowledge that you learn from passionate professors and researchers. This will for sure be an essential course for you if you are looking to find your niche in neuroscience research or to just scratch that neuroscience itch.