José L. Contreras-Vidal, Ph.D.

Associate Professor

Behavioral and Computational Neuroscience

KNES 498M: Movement disorders: Theory & Practice:

This course will review in depth the pathology of movement disorders, including Parkinson's disease, Hungtinton's disease, dystonia, cerebellar disease, motor neuron disease, multi-focal motor pathology, myotonia, chorea, Tourette syndrome, Wilson's disease, and tremor. The emphasis will be on state-of-the-art neuroscience research, detailed measurement methods (kinematics, EMG, EEG, brain imaging), and intervention methods.

KNES 689N: Analog Circuits, Measurement and Control:

This graduate level course will review basic electronic principles, circuits, sensors, models, and instrumentation commonly used in biomedical and bioengineering research with an emphasis in adaptive sensory-motor control. We will study the experimental methods and techniques for measuring bio-potential, bio-mechanical and physiological variables. Applications of control theory in sensory-motor research will also be reviewed. Lectures will be complemented by hands-on experience in a laboratory setting.

KNES 689Z: Special Problems in Kinesiology: Advanced EEG research methods
(in preparation, new for Spring 2009)

KNES 789C: Computational Motor Neuroscience:
This multidisciplinary graduate level course is aimed to advanced graduate students in kinesiology, engineering, computational sciences, and neuroscience who would like to review in depth current theories, models, and methods used in research on adaptive sensory-motor control and learning. The course requires model /development refinement and simulation, comparison to alternative models and biological data. Research project can utilize any level of analysis (single cell, network, or system), and any method in computational neurosciences. Alternatively, the student may want to pursue a theoretical project that studies alternative analysis methods or theoretical development in relation to motor neuroscience.