Ho Yi-Yun, Roeser Andrea, Law Gwenda, Johnson Bruce R
Department of Neurobiology and Behavior, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853.
Department of Biomedical Engineering, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853.
J Undergrad Neurosci Educ. 2021 Dec 24;20(1):A100-A110. eCollection 2021 Fall.
We designed a final semester research project that allowed students to apply the electrophysiological concepts they learned in a lab course to propose and answer experimental questions without access to laboratory equipment. We created the activity based on lesson plans from Ashley Juavinett and the Allen Institute for Brain Science (AIBS) Allen SDK online examples. An interactive graphic interface was added for students to explore and easily quantify subtle neuronal voltage changes. Before starting the final project, students had experience with conventional extracellular and intracellular recording techniques to record and analyze extracellular action potential firing patterns and intracellular resting, action, and synaptic potentials. They demonstrated their understanding of neural signal transmission in required lab reports using data they gathered before the pandemic shutdown. After students left campus, they continued to analyze data and write lab reports focused on neuronal excitability in snail and fly neurons with data supplied by the instructors. For their final project, students were challenged to answer questions addressing neuronal excitability at both the single neuron and neuronal population level by analyzing and interpreting the open-access, patch clamp recording data from the Allen Cell Types Database using code we provided (Python/Jupyter Notebook). This virtual final semester project allowed students to ask real-world medical and scientific questions from "start to end". Through this project, students developed skills to navigate an extensive online database and gained experience with coding-based data analysis. They chose neuronal populations from human and mouse brains to compare passive properties and neuronal excitability between and within brain areas and across different species and disease states. Additionally, students learned to do simple manipulations of Python code, work remotely in teams, and polish their written scientific presentation skills. This activity could complement other remote learning options such as neuronal simulations. Few online sources offer such a wealth of neuroscience data that students can use for class assignments, and even for research and keystone projects. The activity extends the traditional material often taught in upper-level neuroscience courses, with or without a laboratory section, providing a deeper understanding of the range of excitability properties that neurons express.
我们设计了一个学期末研究项目，让学生在无法使用实验室设备的情况下，运用他们在实验课程中学到的电生理概念来提出并回答实验问题。我们根据阿什利·朱阿维内特的教案以及艾伦脑科学研究所（AIBS）的艾伦软件开发工具包（Allen SDK）在线示例创建了这个活动。添加了一个交互式图形界面，以便学生探索并轻松量化神经元微妙的电压变化。在开始最终项目之前，学生们已经有了传统细胞外和细胞内记录技术的经验，用于记录和分析细胞外动作电位发放模式以及细胞内静息电位、动作电位和突触电位。他们在疫情关闭校园之前收集的数据基础上，在要求的实验报告中展示了他们对神经信号传递的理解。学生离开校园后，他们继续分析数据并撰写实验报告，重点是利用教师提供的数据研究蜗牛和果蝇神经元的神经元兴奋性。在他们的最终项目中，学生们面临挑战，通过使用我们提供的代码（Python/朱庇特笔记本）分析和解释来自艾伦细胞类型数据库的开放获取膜片钳记录数据，来回答关于单个神经元和神经元群体水平上神经元兴奋性的问题。这个虚拟的学期末项目让学生能够“从头到尾”提出实际的医学和科学问题。通过这个项目，学生们培养了浏览大型在线数据库的技能，并获得了基于编码的数据分析经验。他们选择了来自人类和小鼠大脑的神经元群体，以比较不同脑区之间、脑区内以及不同物种和疾病状态下的被动特性和神经元兴奋性。此外，学生们学会了对Python代码进行简单操作，以团队形式远程工作，并提升他们书面科学展示的技能。这个活动可以补充其他远程学习选项，如神经元模拟。很少有在线资源能提供如此丰富的神经科学数据供学生用于课堂作业，甚至用于研究和重点项目。该活动扩展了通常在高级神经科学课程中教授的传统内容，无论是否有实验部分，都能让学生更深入地理解神经元所表现出的兴奋性特性范围。
