Guide to Research Techniques in Neuroscience

by Matt Carter, Jennifer Shieh

Neuroscience is by definition a multidisciplinary some scientists study genes and proteins at the molecular level while others study neural circuitry. A single topic such as the auditory system can be studied using techniques from genetics, imaging, biochemistry, or electrophysiology. A young scientist must learn how to read the primary literature and then develop their own experiments. This book offers that scientist an overview of mainstream research techniques, provides guidelines on how to choose one technique over another, offers tips on analyzing data, and provides a list of references for additional detailed study. This book can also assist an experienced scientist understand published studies conducted outside their own subfield.*Written by Stanford University graduate students in neuroscience to provide a "hands-on" approach for other neuroscience graduate students  *Techniques within one field will be compared so that user can select best technique for their experiment *Chapters include references (key articles, books, protocols) for additional detailed study *Data Analysis boxes in each chapter help with data interpretation and offer guidelines on how best to represent results *"Walk-through" boxes guide students through the experiment step-by-step

Genres: Neuroscience, Science

352 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2009

About the author

Matt Carter, PhD, is currently Assistant Professor of Biology at Williams College. His previous position was as a post-doctoral fellow in Richard Palmiter’s lab at the University of Washington using optogenetic techniques to study neural circuitry. He has authored the first edition of this book (Elsevier, 2009) as well as Designing Science Presentations: A Visual Guide to Figures, Papers, Slides, Posters, and More (Elsevier, 2012). He was the awardee of Stanford University’s Walter J. Gores Award for Excellence in Teaching, and two-time recipient of the Stanford School of Medicine’s Excellence in Teaching Award. He currently teaches courses at Williams in both Topics in Neuroscience as well as Neural Systems and Circuits.

Reviews

[Tiago F · Rating 5 out of 5]

It was useful to review material about neuroscience techniques. I only read some of the chapters, but they were well written. It definitely requires some background in neuroscience and some of it went over my head, but it wasn't super dense for neuroscience standards. It had lots of graphs which made understanding the techniques much easier.