Animal Physiology and Laboratory

Semester: Spring

Offered: 2026, 2024, 2023, 2022, 2021, 2019, 2018, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012

The Animal Physiology and Laboratory class introduces fundamental concepts and principles of mammalian physiology, emphasizing how physiological systems operate and interact. Lecture topics include cellular compartmentation, membrane dynamics, homeostasis, endocrine and nervous systems, and sensory physiology. Laboratory sessions provide hands-on experience with techniques such as EMG, EEG, ECG recordings, immunohistochemistry, behavioral tests, and neural stimulation. This is the spring semester of a year-long course, followed by Human Physiology in the fall.

Neuroscience

Semester: Fall

Offered: 2026, 2024, 2023, 2022, 2021, 2019, 2018, 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011

This is an introductory course in neuroscience, focusing on the cellular and molecular foundations of central nervous system function. Topics include the properties of neurons and glia, membrane potentials, ion channels, synaptic transmission and plasticity, and the development of neural circuits. The course also explores brain functions such as sensory processing, learning and memory, homeostasis, emotion, and cognition, as well as their dysfunction in neurodegenerative and psychiatric disorders. Recent advances in neuroscience, including computational modeling and emerging techniques, are also introduced to help students understand the brain as a dynamic and integrated system.

Advanced Endocrinology 

Semester: Spring 

Offered: 2021, 2013

This graduate-level course provides a comprehensive and mechanistic understanding of endocrine regulation across multiple physiological systems. The course emphasizes hormone synthesis, secretion, signaling, and feedback control as fundamental principles governing endocrine function and integration. Students are expected to enter the course with a solid background in biology and chemistry, which will serve as the foundation for in-depth theoretical discussion of endocrine systems and processes. Through focused lectures and critical examination of key experimental studies, the course aims to develop a systems-level understanding of endocrine mechanisms and their relevance to physiological regulation and disease.

Advanced Ion Channel Biology 

Semester: Fall 

Offered: 2018, 2014 

The primary goal of this course is to provide graduate students with a comprehensive and mechanistic understanding of ion channel properties that enable neurons to perform their distinctive physiological functions. The course examines ion channels from multiple perspectives, including structure, biophysical function, regulation, and their integrated roles in maintaining normal physiological homeostasis as well as contributing to pathological conditions. Topics include ligand-gated ion channels at central and peripheral synapses, voltage-gated channels governing axonal and dendritic excitability, and channels whose functional properties are modulated by neuromodulatory signaling. The course also introduces recently engineered ion channels, including light-gated channels, and discusses their impact on experimental neuroscience.

Advanced Neurophysiology

Semester: Spring or Fall

Offered: 2026, 2022

This course aims to provide graduate students with a rigorous theoretical understanding of advanced neurophysiological principles governing neuronal excitability, synaptic transmission, and neural circuit dynamics. The course emphasizes quantitative and computational perspectives as conceptual tools for interpreting electrophysiological phenomena, rather than hands-on programming or experimental training. Through instructor-led lectures and critical analysis of recent primary literature, students will examine how theoretical frameworks inform our understanding of normal neural function and the pathophysiology of neurological and psychiatric disorders, particularly at the synaptic and circuit levels.

Advanced Neuroscience Seminar 

Semester: Spring or Fall

Offered: 2026, 2022 

This seminar course aims to introduce graduate students to recent advances and emerging directions in the field of neuroscience. By engaging with lectures delivered by invited speakers who are leading researchers in diverse areas of neuroscience, students will gain exposure to a broad range of research topics, experimental approaches, and conceptual frameworks. Complemented by student-led journal club sessions, the course is designed to foster critical evaluation of current research and promote active scholarly discussion.

This course is organized as a bi-weekly seminar series featuring lectures by invited speakers, alternating with bi-weekly journal club presentations led by students. Seminar topics will reflect the breadth of contemporary neuroscience research. For seminars given by international speakers, lecture schedules may be subject to change.

Biology of Aging 

Semester: Fall

Offered: 2019

Aging is a complex biological process that affects multiple levels of organization, from molecules and cells to tissues and organ systems, including the nervous system. This course examines the major physiological changes that occur during aging across all levels of biological organization, including biochemical, organellar, cellular, tissue, organ, organ system, and organismal levels. A central goal of the course is to distinguish biological processes associated with normal aging from those underlying common late-onset diseases. The first half of the course focuses on the general biology of healthy aging, emphasizing conserved mechanisms and systemic regulation. The second half of the course centers on the neurobiology of aging, including age-related changes in neural function and a critical discussion of the mechanisms underlying neurodegenerative diseases.

Graduate Neurobiology 

Semester: Spring or Fall

Offered: 2021, 2018, 2013, 2011

This graduate-level course provides a comprehensive and mechanistic understanding of endocrine regulation across multiple physiological systems. The course emphasizes hormone synthesis, secretion, signaling, and feedback control as fundamental principles governing endocrine function and integration. Students are expected to enter the course with a solid background in biology and chemistry, which will serve as the foundation for in-depth theoretical discussion of endocrine systems and processes. Through focused lectures and critical examination of key experimental studies, the course aims to develop a systems-level understanding of endocrine mechanisms and their relevance to physiological regulation and disease.

Neural Development and Plasticity 

Semester: Spring or Fall

Offered: 2024, 2020

This advanced-level course is designed for graduate students with foundational training in neuroscience and aims to provide a mechanistic understanding of the cellular and molecular processes underlying neural development and synaptic plasticity across multiple brain regions. The course emphasizes how developmental programs and activity-dependent plasticity shape neural circuits throughout the lifespan. Foundational knowledge will be established through assigned textbook chapters and instructor-selected review articles, which will serve as the basis for didactic lectures and in-depth group discussions of experimental evidence and conceptual frameworks.

Neural Mechanisms of Learning and Memory 

Semester: Spring or Fall 

Offered: 2023, 2019, 2015 

What is memory, and where and how is it stored in the brain? Is memory a faithful record of past experience, or a dynamic and interpretive process that is continuously reconstructed? These long-standing philosophical questions have motivated inquiry across human history and continue to shape modern neuroscience. This course aims to provide graduate students with a conceptual and mechanistic framework for understanding the neural substrates of learning and memory, grounded in experimental evidence. By examining classical and contemporary studies, the course explores how genetic, cellular, molecular, electrophysiological, and behavioral approaches have been used to elucidate the neural mechanisms by which experiences are encoded, stored, and modified within neural circuits.

Neurobiology of Addiction 

Semester: Spring or Fall

Offered: 2019, 2015, 2012

Drug addiction is a dynamic and complex brain disorder involving maladaptive changes across multiple neural systems. This course aims to provide graduate students with a mechanistic understanding of the neural circuits and brain regions engaged at different stages of addiction and how their interactions give rise to persistent pathological states. Emphasis is placed on genetic, cellular, molecular, and synaptic mechanisms underlying addictive behaviors, with a focus on experimental evidence that elucidates how repeated drug exposure reshapes neural function.

Neurobiology of Mood Disorders 

Semester: Spring 

Offered: 2024, 2020, 

This course aims to provide graduate students with a mechanistic understanding of the neurobiological processes underlying mood disorders, with an emphasis on major depressive disorder. While classical hypotheses focusing on monoaminergic systems such as serotonin and norepinephrine have provided important foundations, accumulating experimental evidence has revealed more complex molecular, synaptic, and circuit-level mechanisms regulating mood. Through critical discussion of experimental studies and primary research articles, this theory-based course examines both classical and contemporary models of mood disorders, highlighting recent technical and conceptual advances in the neurobiological pathophysiology of depression.

Recent Advances in Depression Research 

Semester: Spring 

Offered: 2023 

Major depressive disorder (MDD) is a debilitating brain disorder associated with substantial morbidity and mortality, yet its underlying neurobiological mechanisms remain incompletely understood. This course aims to provide graduate students with an in-depth understanding of recent advances in depression research, with a focus on experimental studies that have reshaped current views on the etiology and pathophysiology of MDD. Through critical discussion of recently published primary literature and lectures by invited external speakers, students will examine emerging concepts, novel methodologies, and evolving theoretical frameworks in preclinical depression research, as well as future directions in the field.

Special Topics in Contemporary Neurobiology 

Semester: Spring 

Offered: 2018, 2014 

This course aims to provide graduate students with up-to-date insight into recent technical and conceptual advances in neuroscience. The course is organized into multiple thematic modules covering complementary experimental approaches widely used in modern neuroscience, including electrophysiological (E), genetic (G), and optical (O) methods, as well as recent combined and integrative approaches (C). Through focused lectures and discussion of representative experimental studies, students will gain an understanding of how emerging technologies and conceptual frameworks are shaping current research in neurobiology.

Scientific Writing for Science and Engineering 

Semester: Spring and Fall

Offered: 2015, 2016, 2018, 2019, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024, 2026

This course is designed to provide graduate students in science and engineering with practical training in writing master’s and doctoral theses as well as manuscripts for international scientific journals. The primary objective of the course is to develop the ability to produce a complete scientific paper through hands-on writing practice. Students will learn fundamental principles of scientific writing and apply them directly to drafting their own manuscripts in either Korean or English. By the end of the course, each student is expected to complete one full-length thesis chapter or journal-style manuscript based on their own research.

This is a highly practical, writing-intensive course conducted in real time through online instruction. Students will work individually on their own manuscripts throughout the semester, receiving structured guidance, feedback, and revision opportunities. Course activities include short lectures on scientific writing principles, guided writing exercises, peer and instructor feedback, and iterative manuscript revision. Active participation is required, and students must be prepared with a working camera and microphone for all sessions.

Due to the nature of the course, enrollment is restricted to students who have already selected a research topic with their academic advisor and have sufficient research results to support manuscript preparation. First-year graduate students are not recommended to enroll.