Neuroscience Labs FREE -- Welcome to MDCUNE!

The Modular Digital Course in Undergraduate Neuroscience Education (MDCUNE) provides modules of instruction based in neurobiology for faculty to use in their own courses or for independent learning. These modules are inquiry-based but are completely digital so that only computers are required for their execution. These modules have been successfully taught in Psychology and Neuroscience laboratory courses at UCLA and all tutorials and programs are now available for free.

The goal of this project is to create a series of completely digital, inquiry-based laboratory modules in neuroscience and to make them freely accessible to students and faculty at a wide range of institutions. This project will give students a truly rich, hands-on introduction to neuroscience research while requiring no equipment or facilities other than computers connected to the internet. The digital and modular nature of these materials provides for a great deal of flexibility in teaching and delivery.

For more specific information about this project see the following article:

"Modular Digital Course in Undergraduate Neuroscience Education (MDCUNE): A Website Offering Free Digital Tools for Neuroscience Education" - by William Grisham from the Journal of Undergraduate Neuroscience Education (JUNE)

Modules, Programs, Presentations:

Module: Swimmy

Developed by Dr. Franklin Krasne

Free and complete software providing experience with neurophysiological phenomena and mechanisms of motor pattern generation in virtual neural circuits. Student manuals also provided.

-Runs on Windows and Mac (OS X 10.5.8 or later)-

See the Swimmy Section for more information.

Module: Rat SCIA (Spinal Cord Image Archive)

Developed by Dr. William Grisham, Heidi Jones & Sun Hee Park

Image library of spinal cord motoneurons for analyzing sex differences and effects of prenatal antiandrogens on these neurons. Includes a PDF of an article describing the use of this image library (Grisham, W., Jones, H. B., & Park, S. H. (2003).

See the Rat SCIA Section for more information.

Module: Bioinformatics/Neuroinformatics

Developed by Dr. Jackson Beatty and Dr. William Grisham

Image library, student manual, and links to resources to quantify brain phenotype and perform a Quantitative Trait Locus analysis linking variation in the phenotype with chromosomal loci.

See the Bioinformatics Section for more information.

Module: Bird Song System

Developed by Dr. William Grisham

Image library of songbird nuclei—Area X, HVC, and RA—allowing comparisons examining sex differences and effects of various doses of estrogen given to females in posthatch development.

See the Bird Song System Section for more information.

Presentation: Evaluation (NSF TUES/ CCLI)

Presented by Dr. William Grisham & Lisa Beck McCauley

Course Curriculum and Laboratory Improvment (CCLI) for Transforming Undergraduate Education in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (TUES).

Sponsored by the National Science Foundation (NSF).

See the NSF TUES/CCLI -- Evaluation Section for more information.