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This lesson is a general overview of overarching concepts in neuroinformatics research, with a particular focus on clinical approaches to defining, measuring, studying, diagnosing, and treating various brain disorders. Also described are the complex, multi-level nature of brain disorders and the data associated with them, from genes and individual cells up to cortical microcircuits and whole-brain network dynamics. Given the heterogeneity of brain disorders and their underlying mechanisms, this lesson lays out a case for multiscale neuroscience data integration.

Difficulty level: Intermediate
Duration: 1:09:33
Speaker: : Sean Hill

This lesson contains both a lecture and a tutorial component. The lecture (0:00-20:03 of YouTube video) discusses both the need for intersectional approaches in healthcare as well as the impact of neglecting intersectionality in patient populations. The lecture is followed by a practical tutorial in both Python and R on how to assess intersectional bias in datasets. Links to relevant code and data are found below. 

Difficulty level: Beginner
Duration: 52:26

This lesson describes the fundamentals of genomics, from central dogma to design and implementation of GWAS, to the computation, analysis, and interpretation of polygenic risk scores. 

Difficulty level: Intermediate
Duration: 1:28:16
Speaker: : Dan Felsky

This lesson contains the slides (pptx) of a lecture discussing the necessary concepts and tools for taking into account population stratification and admixture in the context of genome-wide association studies (GWAS). The free-access software Tractor and its advantages in GWAS are also discussed. 

Difficulty level: Intermediate
Duration:
Speaker: : Dan Felsky

This lesson is an overview of transcriptomics, from fundamental concepts of the central dogma and RNA sequencing at the single-cell level, to how genetic expression underlies diversity in cell phenotypes. 

Difficulty level: Intermediate
Duration: 1:29:08

This lesson describes the principles underlying functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI), tractography, and parcellation. These tools and concepts are explained in a broader context of neural connectivity and mental health. 

Difficulty level: Intermediate
Duration: 1:47:22

This lesson breaks down the principles of Bayesian inference and how it relates to cognitive processes and functions like learning and perception. It is then explained how cognitive models can be built using Bayesian statistics in order to investigate how our brains interface with their environment. 

This lesson corresponds to slides 1-64 in the PDF below. 

Difficulty level: Intermediate
Duration: 1:28:14

This lesson gives a description of the BrainHealth Databank, a repository of many types of health-related data, whose aim is to accelerate research, improve care, and to help better understand and diagnose mental illness, as well as develop new treatments and prevention strategies. 

 

This lesson corresponds to slides 46-78 of the PDF below. 

Difficulty level: Beginner
Duration: 1:12:25
Speaker: : Joanna Yu

This lesson describes not only the need for precision medicine, but also the current state of the methods, pharmacogenetic approaches, utility and implementation of such care today.

 

This lesson corresponds to slides 1-50 of the PowerPoint below. 

Difficulty level: Beginner
Duration: 1:24:30
Speaker: : Dan Felsky

This lecture discusses what defines an integrative approach regarding research and methods, including various study designs and models which are appropriate choices when attempting to bridge data domains; a necessity when whole-person modelling. 

Difficulty level: Beginner
Duration: 1:28:14
Speaker: : Dan Felsky

This lecture covers the history of behaviorism and the ultimate challenge to behaviorism. 

Difficulty level: Beginner
Duration: 1:19:08

This lecture covers various learning theories.

Difficulty level: Beginner
Duration: 1:00:42

Whereas the previous two lessons described the biophysical and signalling properties of individual neurons, this lesson describes properties of those units when part of larger networks. 

Difficulty level: Intermediate
Duration: 6:00
Speaker: : Marcus Ghosh

This lesson goes over some examples of how machine learners and computational neuroscientists go about designing and building neural network models inspired by biological brain systems. 

Difficulty level: Intermediate
Duration: 12:52
Speaker: : Dan Goodman

This lesson delves into the human nervous system and the immense cellular, connectomic, and functional sophistication therein. 

Difficulty level: Intermediate
Duration: 8:41
Speaker: : Marcus Ghosh

This lesson characterizes different types of learning in a neuroscientific and cellular context, and various models employed by researchers to investigate the mechanisms involved. 

Difficulty level: Intermediate
Duration: 3:54
Speaker: : Dan Goodman

In this lesson, you will learn about different approaches to modeling learning in neural networks, particularly focusing on system parameters such as firing rates and synaptic weights impact a network. 

Difficulty level: Intermediate
Duration: 9:40
Speaker: : Dan Goodman

This lesson explores how researchers try to understand neural networks, particularly in the case of observing neural activity. 

Difficulty level: Intermediate
Duration: 8:20
Speaker: : Marcus Ghosh

In this lesson, you will learn about one particular aspect of decision making: reaction times. In other words, how long does it take to take a decision based on a stream of information arriving continuously over time?

Difficulty level: Intermediate
Duration: 6:01
Speaker: : Dan Goodman

In this lesson, you will hear about some of the open issues in the field of neuroscience, as well as a discussion about whether neuroscience works, and how can we know?

Difficulty level: Intermediate
Duration: 6:54
Speaker: : Marcus Ghosh