From their looks of cheerful expectation, you might think the eight undergraduates gathered around a U-shaped table in the BU School of Medicine anatomy lab are waiting to see a movie or a band. Except the next thing they do is don lab aprons, gloves, and safety glasses.
Then neuroanatomy instructor Joseph Goodliffe, a MED postdoctoral researcher, brings out the brains.
Try to identify some of those structures we were discussing in class earlier, says Goodliffe (MED16) as he lifts several white plastic buckets onto the table.
Inside, floating in a preservative solution, are cadaver brains that have been donated to the anatomy lab, most of them already cut in half along the median, providing a nice clear cross section for the students searching out structures such as the corpus callosum, hypothalamus, and caudate. The students speak with a mix of awe and seriousness, but no one seems intimidated. Its not their first time, after all.
That one still has the spinal cord attached, one says, nodding toward a nearby bucket. Thats pretty intense.
Welcome to the new Summer Program in Neuroscience (SPIN), which gives high-achieving undergraduates from colleges and universities around the country a head start in the subject, offering experiences that they wouldnt normally get until grad school.
Theyre a joy to work with. Theyre really, really interested in learning, says James Holsapple, a MED associate professor and chair of neurosurgery and an associate professor of pediatrics, who began the program last year.
Holsapple, who is also Boston Medical Center neurosurgery department chair and neurological surgery program director, aimed SPIN at undergrads who are studying neuroscience or who are on a premed track, and at biology and computer science students. Theres a lot of crossover between neuroscience and computer science now, he says, from computational neuroscience to artificial intelligence.
SPIN, the Summer Program in Neuroscience, is an eight-week course for undergraduates to integrate neuroscience research, hands-on teaching of human neuroanatomy, and clinical neurosurgery. It allows them experiences they otherwise wouldnt have until graduate school.
The program has three components:
The students certainly agree about the exciting part.
Boston native Joy Yang is a rising junior at Emory University, studying neuroscience and behavioral biology. She plans to attend medical school, and says she never worried about her ability to handle the operating room. I was open-mouthed the whole time. Its such a surreal experience. Youre watching someone be cut open and helped and saved. I liked the blood. It was pretty cool. I watch a lot of gruesome TV shows. I was ready.
This has been the first real clinical experience Ive had, says Rachel Feltman, from Long Island, a University of Michigan rising senior studying for a BS in biopsychology, cognition, and neuroscience. Ive worked in a doctors office, but it was just at the front desk.
Feltman says her first experience following Boston Medical Center residents as they were caring for a postsurgical patient with a serious head trauma was very overwhelming. As she prepared to attend a surgery the next morning, she called her mother, acknowledging that she didnt know if she could handle it. To her relief, the surgery was canceled. However, she says now, the experience of waiting in the operating room for an hour before the cancellation gave her a level of confidence that helped her get through the next surgery.
Your brain controls everything you do, she says. Ive learned about it in lectures and in books and weve been working with the cadaver brains, but just seeing it pulsating and knowing blood was flowing through it was just incredible.
Feltman, who dropped a study-abroad trip to Copenhagen to take the summer course, says SPIN has confirmed her commitment to a career in neurology or psychiatry. She will apply to medical school after a gap year.
Undergraduates from across the country and instructor Joseph Goodliffe (MED16) (center, in blue coat) study the anatomy of the brain in a MED lab.
Goodliffe has taught medical students and grad students, but this is his first time teaching undergraduates. That meant adjusting some of the content, which he says he doesnt mind. Theyre just so enthusiastic and so excited to be here, he says. Its a great energy level that they bring, and theyre learning neuroanatomy at the same level and pace we teach the med students.
Holsapple ran a pilot program last year with two students from Drake University, his undergraduate alma mater. This year there were more than 100 applications for 8 slots, the small number constrained by the need to find a lab mentor for each student and to fit them all into clinical and operating rooms. He hopes to find ways to modestly expand the program next year.
He says SPIN benefits MED as well as the students. As far as we know, this is the only program of its type, he says. It brings attention to BU as being innovative in the educational space, and it brings great students from all over the country to work in BU labs. Its a good recruitment tool.
Some SPIN students have already expressed interest in returning to BU for graduate studies or for medical school. And the programs informal lunch speakers have included faculty offering advice about the medical school application process.
As Holsapple sees it, the neuroscience program could be just a beginning. The SPIN framework could be adapted to other clinical specialties. You could do the summer program in nephrology, the summer program in psychiatry, the summer program in internal medicine.
At the beginning of the eight weeks, he gave each student a blank lab notebook and told them they should write down anything they see or hear that they dont understand. During the Tuesday morning didactic sessions with staff, time is always set aside for them to ask questions about those things.
That inculcates a culture of inquiry and openness about questions, Holsapple says, of not being embarrassed to admit you dont know something, which is the first step to knowing something.
Read the rest here:
MED Neuroscience Program Gives Undergrads Experience and Insight - BU Today
- Sheffield Lab: Understanding the neuroscience of memories - University of Chicago News - April 27th, 2025 [April 27th, 2025]
- Prenatal Stress Leaves Lasting Molecular Imprints on Babies - Neuroscience News - April 27th, 2025 [April 27th, 2025]
- Dean Buonomano explores the concept of time in neuroscience and physics - The Transmitter - April 27th, 2025 [April 27th, 2025]
- Psychedelics May Reset Brain-Immune Link Driving Fear and Anxiety - Neuroscience News - April 27th, 2025 [April 27th, 2025]
- Infant Social Skills Thrive Despite Hardship - Neuroscience News - April 27th, 2025 [April 27th, 2025]
- From Cologne to Country Roads: One scientist's interdisciplinary journey to build bridges (and robotic insects) between neuroscience and engineering -... - April 27th, 2025 [April 27th, 2025]
- Eyes Reveal Intentions Faster Than We Think - Neuroscience News - April 27th, 2025 [April 27th, 2025]
- Immune Resilience Identified as Key to Healthy Aging and Longevity - Neuroscience News - April 27th, 2025 [April 27th, 2025]
- Energy Starvation Triggers Dangerous Glutamate Surges in the Brain - Neuroscience News - April 27th, 2025 [April 27th, 2025]
- WVU Rockefeller Neuroscience Institute first in U.S. to successfully test innovative brain-computer interface technology to decode speech and language... - April 27th, 2025 [April 27th, 2025]
- Microglia Reprogrammed to Deliver Precision Alzheimers Therapies - Neuroscience News - April 27th, 2025 [April 27th, 2025]
- Neuroscience Says Music Is an Emotion Regulation Machine. Heres What to Play for Happiness, Productivity, or Deep Thinking - Inc.com - April 19th, 2025 [April 19th, 2025]
- Early Maternal Affection Shapes Key Personality Traits for Life - Neuroscience News - April 19th, 2025 [April 19th, 2025]
- Elons new neuroscience major highlighted by Greensboro News & Record - Elon University - April 19th, 2025 [April 19th, 2025]
- Brain Blast event at St. Lawrence University teaches local students neuroscience - North Country Now - April 19th, 2025 [April 19th, 2025]
- AI Reveals What Keeps People Committed to Exercise - Neuroscience News - April 19th, 2025 [April 19th, 2025]
- The "Holy Grail" of Neuroscience? Researchers Create Stunningly Accurate Digital Twin of the Brain - The Debrief - April 19th, 2025 [April 19th, 2025]
- Annenberg School Vice Dean Emily Falk publishes book on the neuroscience of decision-making - The Daily Pennsylvanian - April 19th, 2025 [April 19th, 2025]
- Music-Induced Chills Trigger Natural Opioids in the Brain - Neuroscience News - April 19th, 2025 [April 19th, 2025]
- What We Value: The Neuroscience of Choice and Change - think.kera.org - April 19th, 2025 [April 19th, 2025]
- Kile takes top neuroscience post at Sutter Health as system pushes to align care, expand trials - The Business Journals - April 19th, 2025 [April 19th, 2025]
- A Grain of Brain, 523 Million Synapses, and the Most Complicated Neuroscience Experiment Ever Attempted - SciTechDaily - April 19th, 2025 [April 19th, 2025]
- Mild Brain Stimulation Alters Decision-Making Speed and Flexibility - Neuroscience News - April 19th, 2025 [April 19th, 2025]
- Cannabis studies were informing fundamental neuroscience in the 1970s - Nature - April 10th, 2025 [April 10th, 2025]
- To make a meaningful contribution to neuroscience, fMRI must break out of its silo - The Transmitter - April 10th, 2025 [April 10th, 2025]
- Steve Jobss Unexpected Secret to Being More Creative (Backed by Neuroscience) - Inc.com - April 10th, 2025 [April 10th, 2025]
- Challenging Decades of Neuroscience: Brain Cells Are More Plastic Than Previously Thought - SciTechDaily - April 10th, 2025 [April 10th, 2025]
- Q&A: Lundbecks head of R&D on letting biology speak in neuroscience - Endpoints News - April 10th, 2025 [April 10th, 2025]
- Why it's hard to study the neuroscience of psychedelics : Short Wave - NPR - April 10th, 2025 [April 10th, 2025]
- Fear Sync: How Males and Females Respond to Stress Together - Neuroscience News - April 10th, 2025 [April 10th, 2025]
- Chemotherapy Disrupts Brain Connectivity - Neuroscience News - April 10th, 2025 [April 10th, 2025]
- Newly awarded NIH grants for neuroscience lag 77 percent behind previous nine-year average - The Transmitter - April 10th, 2025 [April 10th, 2025]
- Wittstein interviewed by The Times News about new neuroscience major - Elon University - April 10th, 2025 [April 10th, 2025]
- Alto Neuroscience initiated with a Buy at H.C. Wainwright - Yahoo Finance - April 10th, 2025 [April 10th, 2025]
- New map of brain hailed as watershed for neuroscience - The Times - April 10th, 2025 [April 10th, 2025]
- GSK Ramps Up Neuroscience Investment With ABL Brain Shuttle Deal - insights.citeline.com - April 10th, 2025 [April 10th, 2025]
- ADHD and Music: Why Background Beats May Boost Study Focus - Neuroscience News - April 10th, 2025 [April 10th, 2025]
- Brains Rewire Themselves to Survive Deadly Infection - Neuroscience News - April 10th, 2025 [April 10th, 2025]
- AbbVie Hold Rating: Balancing Strong Immunology Growth with Challenges in Aesthetics, Neuroscience, and Oncology - TipRanks - April 10th, 2025 [April 10th, 2025]
- Want to Feel Better and Be More Mindful? Neuroscience Says This Habit Might Be Holding You Back - Inc.com - April 10th, 2025 [April 10th, 2025]
- How One Bad Meal Rewires the Brain to Avoid That Food Forever - Neuroscience News - April 10th, 2025 [April 10th, 2025]
- Marcus Neuroscience Institute to Host Brain and Spine Symposium - South Florida Hospital News - March 30th, 2025 [March 30th, 2025]
- Elon University to launch neuroscience major in fall 2025 - Today at Elon - March 30th, 2025 [March 30th, 2025]
- The brains stalwart sentinels express an unexpected gene - The Transmitter: Neuroscience News and Perspectives - March 30th, 2025 [March 30th, 2025]
- Video catches microglia in the act of synaptic pruning - The Transmitter: Neuroscience News and Perspectives - March 30th, 2025 [March 30th, 2025]
- Null and Noteworthy: Reexamining registered reports - The Transmitter: Neuroscience News and Perspectives - March 30th, 2025 [March 30th, 2025]
- Accepting the bitter lesson and embracing the brains complexity - The Transmitter: Neuroscience News and Perspectives - March 30th, 2025 [March 30th, 2025]
- NIH neurodevelopmental assessment system now available as iPad app - The Transmitter: Neuroscience News and Perspectives - March 30th, 2025 [March 30th, 2025]
- Stronger Bonds Before Birth Shape Healthier Mother-Child Futures - Neuroscience News - March 30th, 2025 [March 30th, 2025]
- How Emotionally Intelligent People Learn to Control Their Inner Voice, Backed by Neuroscience - Inc. - March 30th, 2025 [March 30th, 2025]
- Gabriele Scheler reflects on the interplay between language, thought and AI - The Transmitter: Neuroscience News and Perspectives - March 30th, 2025 [March 30th, 2025]
- Worlds first crowd-sourced neuroscience study aims to understand how our brains predict the future - EurekAlert - March 15th, 2025 [March 15th, 2025]
- Rewriting Neuroscience: Possible Foundations of Human Intelligence Observed for the First Time - SciTechDaily - March 15th, 2025 [March 15th, 2025]
- Calculating neurosciences carbon cost: Q&A with Stefan Pulver and William Smith - The Transmitter: Neuroscience News and Perspectives - March 15th, 2025 [March 15th, 2025]
- The future of neuroscience research at U.S. minority-serving institutions is in danger - The Transmitter: Neuroscience News and Perspectives - March 15th, 2025 [March 15th, 2025]
- Dopamine and social media: Why you cant stop scrolling, according to neuroscience - PsyPost - March 15th, 2025 [March 15th, 2025]
- Neuroscience Discovered a Clever Trick for Squeezing More Joy Out of Everyday Pleasures - Inc. - March 15th, 2025 [March 15th, 2025]
- The limits of neuroscience - The Transmitter: Neuroscience News and Perspectives - March 15th, 2025 [March 15th, 2025]
- BPOM Explains The Benefits Of Fasting From The Health And Neuroscience Side - VOI English - March 15th, 2025 [March 15th, 2025]
- How tiny tardigrades could help tackle systems neuroscience questions - The Transmitter: Neuroscience News and Perspectives - March 15th, 2025 [March 15th, 2025]
- Alison Preston explains how our brains form mental frameworks for interpreting the world - The Transmitter: Neuroscience News and Perspectives - March 15th, 2025 [March 15th, 2025]
- The Mystical Mind Meets Neuroscience: Seeking the Roots of Consciousness - Next Big Idea Club Magazine - March 15th, 2025 [March 15th, 2025]
- Myosin Therapeutics Closes Second Seed Round to Advance Clinical Trials for Innovative Cancer and Neuroscience Therapies - PR Newswire - March 5th, 2025 [March 5th, 2025]
- Neuroscience Ph.D. programs adjust admissions in response to U.S. funding uncertainty - The Transmitter: Neuroscience News and Perspectives - March 5th, 2025 [March 5th, 2025]
- New tools help make neuroimaging accessible to more researchers - The Transmitter: Neuroscience News and Perspectives - March 5th, 2025 [March 5th, 2025]
- Future Thinking Training Reduces Impulsivity - Neuroscience News - March 5th, 2025 [March 5th, 2025]
- Null and Noteworthy, relaunched: Probing a schizophrenia biomarker - The Transmitter: Neuroscience News and Perspectives - March 5th, 2025 [March 5th, 2025]
- How to communicate the value of curiosity-driven research - The Transmitter: Neuroscience News and Perspectives - March 5th, 2025 [March 5th, 2025]
- Cognitive neuroscience approach to explore the impact of wind turbine noise on various mental functions - Nature.com - March 5th, 2025 [March 5th, 2025]
- Football on the Brain: Helping coaches embed neuroscience knowledge - Training Ground Guru - March 5th, 2025 [March 5th, 2025]
- Taking Control: Using Neuroscience to Build Better Lives - theLoop - March 5th, 2025 [March 5th, 2025]
- Creating a pipeline of talent to feed the growth of Neuroscience: Lessons from Ghana - Myjoyonline - March 5th, 2025 [March 5th, 2025]
- Exclusive: NIH appears to archive policy requiring female animals in studies - The Transmitter: Neuroscience News and Perspectives - February 25th, 2025 [February 25th, 2025]
- Roll On Down The Highway 2025 Tour coming to Neuroscience Group Field - WeAreGreenBay.com - February 25th, 2025 [February 25th, 2025]
- STEM organizations host Neuroscience Outreach Fair for local K-12 students - University of Virginia The Cavalier Daily - February 25th, 2025 [February 25th, 2025]
- Adapt or die: Safeguarding the future of diversity and inclusion funding in neuroscience - The Transmitter: Neuroscience News and Perspectives - February 25th, 2025 [February 25th, 2025]
- The last two-author neuroscience paper? - The Transmitter: Neuroscience News and Perspectives - February 25th, 2025 [February 25th, 2025]
- Gate Neurosciences Strengthens Focus on the Synapse as a Therapeutic Target with Acquisition of Boost Neuroscience - Business Wire - February 25th, 2025 [February 25th, 2025]
- Why Firefly Neuroscience, Inc. (AIFF) Is Soaring This Year So Far - Yahoo Finance - February 25th, 2025 [February 25th, 2025]
- Breaking the barrier between theorists and experimentalists - The Transmitter: Neuroscience News and Perspectives - February 25th, 2025 [February 25th, 2025]