BISC 462: Seminar in Neuropsychiatric Disorders: Features, etiologies, and neural
mechanisms
Fall 2014
This course covers 15 papers on recent advances in our understanding of the etiology of
complex neuropsychiatric diseases, with a particular emphasis on possible cellular, synaptic,
and molecular mechanisms. Each week a different student will present an overview of the
specific disease being discussed, and then another student will present one of the papers listed
below. This student will be responsible for first framing the background that led to the
publication, an explanation of the questions being addressed and the techniques/approaches
being used, and an analysis of the results. Finally, the student will lead a discussion on the
relative merits and importance of the paper.
The following diseases will be covered, along with the publications:
Diseases:
1. Autism Spectrum Disorder
2. Bipolar Disorder
3. Depression
4. Epilepsy
5. Fatal Familial Insomnia
6. Fragile X Syndrome
7. Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder
8. Rett Syndrome
9. Schizophrenia
10. Timothy Syndrome
11. Tourette’s Syndrome
Papers:
1. Santini et al. “Exaggerated translation causes synaptic and behavioral aberrations associated
with autism.” Nature, 2013.
2. Hu et al. “Neurexin and Neuroligin mediate retrograde synaptic inhibition in C. elegans.”
Science, 2012.
3. Malhotra et al. “High frequencies of de novo CNVs in Bipolar Disorder and Schizophrenia.”
Neuron, 2011.
4. Shohat-Ophir et al. “Sexual deprivation increases ethanol intake in Drosophila.” Science,
2012.
5. Sia et al. “The human language-associated gene SRPX2 regulates synapse formation and
vocalization in mice.” Science, 2013.
6. Jackson et al. “Spontaneous generation of prion infectivity in Fatal Familial Insomnia knockin
mice.” Neuron, 2009.
7. Bhattacharya et al. “Genetic removal of p70 S6 Kinase 1 corrects molecular, synaptic, and
behavioral phenotypes in Fragile X Syndrome mice.” Neuron, 2012.
8. Napoli et al. “The Fragile X Syndrome Protein represses activity-dependent translation
through CYFIP1, a new 4E-BP.” Cell, 2008.
9. Welch et al. “Cortico-striatal synaptic defects and OCD-like behaviors in Sapap3-mutant
mice.” Nature, 2007.
10. Ahmari et al. “Repeated cortico-striatal stimulation generates persistent OCD-like behavior.”
Science, 2013.
11. Ebert et al. “Activity-dependent phosphorylation of MeCP2 threonine 308 regulates
interaction with NCoR.” Nature, 2013.
12. Purcell et al. “A polygenic burden of rare disruptive mutations in schizophrenia.” Nature,
2014.
13. Fromer et al. “De novo mutations in schizophrenia implicate synaptic networks.” Nature,
2014.
14. Pasca et al. “Using iPSC-derived neurons to uncover cellular phenotypes associated with
Timothy syndrome.” Nature Medicine, 2011.
15. Abelson et al. “Sequence variants in SLITRK1 are associated with Tourette’s Syndrome.”
Science, 2005.
Course Coordinator:
Dion Dickman, PhD
Assistant Professor, Neurobiology
dickman@usc.edu
Phone: (213) 740-7533
Office Hours: Wed 4 pm – 5 pm
Textbook: None
Time and Place: 2 pm – 3:50 pm, HNB 107
Grading: The grades for the course will be determined by the disease presentation (20%),
paper presentation (50%), class participation (10%), and questions (20%). Every student must
bring 2 questions about the paper being presented to be discussed each class. After the class,
the questions will be collected and graded.
Students with Disabilities: Students requesting academic accommodations based on a
disability are required to register with Disability Services and Programs (DSP) each semester. A
letter of verification for approved accommodations can be obtained from DSP when adequate
documentation is filed. Please be sure the letter is delivered to one of the instructors as early in
the semester as possible. Disability Services and Programs is located in Student Union 301 and
their phone number is (213) 740-0776.
Statement on academic integrity: USC seeks to maintain an optimal learning environment.
General principles of academic honesty include the concept of respect for the intellectual
property of others, the expectation that individual work will be submitted unless otherwise
allowed by an instructor, and the obligations both to protect one’s own academic work from
misuse by others as well as to avoid using another’s work as one’s own. All students are
expected to understand and abide by these principles. Scampus, the Student Guidebook,
contains the Student Conduct Code in Section 11.00, while the recommended sanctions are
located in Appendix A: http://www.usc.edu/dept/publications/SCAMPUS/gov/. Students will be
referred to the Office of Student Judicial Affairs and Community Standards for further review,
should there be any suspicion of academic dishonesty. The Review process can be found
at: http://www.usc.edu/student-affairs/SJACS/.
Disclaimer: It may be necessary to make some changes in the syllabus during the semester.