The undergraduate Neurobiology Program, which I direct, is a degree-granting undergraduate major.  It is a joint effort of the College of Arts and Sciences and the School of Medicine, and involves faculty from the departments of Biological Structure, Biology, Pharmacology, Psychology, Physiology & Biophysics.
   Entry into the major is by application only.  We receive applications from students who have completed (or who will complete by the end of Fall Quarter) the introductory Biology sequence (Biology 180, 200, 220) at UW or its equivalent elsewhere.  We accept 48-50 students each Fall.
   The program starts with NBio 301 (Winter) and 302 (Spring), a 2-quarter introduction to cellular and systems neurobiology. These are intense, 5-credit lecture and laboratory courses.  In the second year of the program, students take 4, 400-level seminar courses in neuroanatomy, pathophysiology, behavior, and neuropharmacology.  Students in the program take this sequence of courses as a group and are guaranteed registration into all of these courses when they are accepted into the major.  Courses are open only to NBio majors.
   One of the great advantages of the program is its small size and collegial environment.  With each year's class taking all NBio courses on the same schedule, students and faculty get to know each other well, and the learning environment is both intense and fun.
   For more information visit our web site or contact either me or the program administrator, Tom Freng (tfreng@u).

   The picture to the right shows a slice from an embryonic mouse brain labeled with markers for differentiating neurons (red) and dividing neuronal precursors (green).  The green cells at the bottom are the stem cell population of the cortical ventricular zone.

We have also developed a experimental simulation software package for teaching cellular neurophysiology to advanced undergraduates and graduate students.  For more information, click here.