RESEARCH INFORMATION 2012

The Neuroscience major requires that students complete at least six credit hours of research. Therefore, students are urged to take advantage of the many opportunities to participate in research projects carried out at any of the Johns Hopkins campuses.

Earning Credit for Research:

The number of credits earned for supervised research ranges from one to three, and is determined at the end of the semester. Each 40 hours of work per semester is worth one credit. Because a semester is about 13 weeks long, each credit requires about three hours per week on average. If the student works regularly during the semester, then three hours a week will yield one credit, six hours will yield two credits, and nine hours will yield three credits. Students may, of course, work more some days and weeks than others.

Over the summer and intersession, students may also earn up to 3 credits adhering to the 40 hours of work equals 1 credit formula.

While students are not required to keep time sheets of their hours, they should discuss their work schedule with the principal investigators (PI) of the lab and come up with a schedule that will allow them to earn the number of credits they wish to earn during the designated time.  Even if students register for one to three credits, the actual number of credits earned is determined at the end of the semester by the lab supervisor.

All undergraduate research is graded on a Satisfactory/Unsatisfactory scale.

Note – students can only earn 6 credits per year of research, tutorial, or internship credits.  The year begins with the summer session.

Requirements to Receive Credit for Research:

Recently, we have modified the procedure for doing neuroscience research.  Currently there are 6 requirements that are needed to receive research credit.

1.  Attend a Scientific Communication section at the beginning of the semester (intersession or summer).  This first session will be the Orientation Session.  The date and time of this session is determined by the section number.

2.  Work for the designated amount of time in the lab.

3.  Write a “journal article format” research paper about your lab work.  This paper is to be signed by your research supervisor and submitted during your Scientific Communication Exit Session.

4.  Arrange to have an email sent to Dr. Gorman from your lab supervisor stating the number of credits earned.  If your lab supervisor is a Homewood faculty, this requirement is not needed.

5.  Attend the Scientific Communication section at the end of the semester (intersession or summer).   This session will be the Exit Session.  The date and time of this session is determined by the section number.

6.  Fill out an online Research Survey.

FINDING A LAB:

Learning how to find a research lab to work in is part of the learning experience for you.  There are 4 basic steps to finding a lab to work in at Johns Hopkins.

The Neuroscience Department site (www.neuroscience.jhu.edu) lists many of the neuroscience related researchers on all Hopkins campuses.  Students can also consult departmental web pages and other online information.  The research interests of faculty members are usually listed, along with selected bibliographies of published works. Students should do a Pub Med search for more recent papers written by the faculty they are interested in working with.  Try to find review papers, which are usually easier to understand.  You will also need to find some primary articles, so that you can get more information about the lab.  For example a PI may be working on Alzheimer’s disease; this work can be done with patients, animal models, cell cultures, etc.  It is good to read a brief selection of the articles that have been published by the potential supervisors, to ensure that the nature of the research being conducted is understood and can be intelligently discussed.

It is best to contact faculty via e-mail to discuss possible research opportunities.  You should introduce yourself as an undergraduate neuroscience major and explain your interest in working for credit in the faculty member’s laboratory.  The timing of all of this is important.  The medical school campus is on a different schedule than the Homewood campus.  Faculty members from the medical school will start looking for students around the end of April and beginning of May for the summer session, around August for the fall semester, and January for the spring semester.  However, these are just guidelines and students have found labs before or after these times.

Supervised research is initiated by an agreement between the student and the faculty member (who will be known as the lab supervisor) with whom s/he wishes to work. That agreement specifies the student’s work in terms of research including the following: the length of time the student will spend working; times when the student is expected to be present; student contribution to the lab supervisor (e.g. a certain amount of time, contributions to a paper, the results of an experiment, etc.); and lab supervisor contribution (e.g. supervision, readings, guidance in pursuing the project, etc.).  No paper work is required, as the duties are verbally agreed upon.

During the summer months and over intersession, students may also choose to do research at other Universities closer to their home towns.  You can find labs to work in by using the same procedure described above.  You will need approval from the Director of Undergraduate Studies, Dr. Linda Gorman, to work in labs outside of Hopkins campuses.

SIGNING UP FOR RESEARCH CREDIT:

Once you have found a lab, you must first sign up for a section of Scientific Communication: Neuroscience (080.500), which is a 0.5 credit course.  The Scientific Communication section is taken concurrently with Neuroscience Research and consists of a two hour research orientation session held at the beginning of the semester and a two hour exit session held at the end of the semester.  Each section meets on different dates and times and these dates and times will change each semester.  See the “special notes” listing in the course description to sign up for the section that fits into your schedule.

To fulfill the time necessary to earn the 0.5 credits, students are also expected to meet with their lab supervisor or attend a lab meeting once a week to understand the research the lab is currently working on and receive feedback on the work they are doing.

After you have signed up for a Scientific Communication section, you may then sign up for a Neuroscience Research section.   You choose your Neuroscience Research section based on your academic year (freshmen, sophomore, junior or senior) and based on the faculty who will be serving as your lab supervisor.  Most fulltime Homewood faculty will have a section number.   If the lab supervisor is not a full-time faculty member on the Homewood campus, students must register under Dr. Linda Gorman as their full-time Homewood faculty sponsor.  Sign up for the number of credits that you think you will be able to earn.  Remember, you may not go over 18.5 total credits per semester.  Going above the credit limit warrants the approval of Academic Advising.

For students working in labs not on the Johns Hopkins campuses, Dr. Gorman must receive an email (lgorman1@jhu.edu) from the PI of the lab that you will be working in.  The email must basically state the nature of the work you will be doing in the lab and how many credits you plan on earning.  Once Dr. Gorman receives the email, she will sign your paperwork for the registrar.  Be sure you complete your paperwork prior to leaving campus or you will not be able to receive credit for your work.

NOTE – You do not have to pay for research credits done over the summer.

RESEARCH ORIENTATION SESSION:

Scientific communication is vital to advancing science and the research orientation and exit sessions are designed to help you describe your laboratory experiences.  Small groups of students will meet for a two hour session to discuss the work that they will be doing during the upcoming semester. 

All orientation sessions will be held in the Neuroscience and Behavioral Biology Conference Room – Dunning 414. 

lab supervisor email:

If you are not working on the Homewood campus, then Dr. Gorman (lgorman1@jhu.edu) needs to receive an email from your lab supervisor prior to the last day of the semester.  The email simply has to state that you have successfully completed X number of research credits.  The email should come from the PI of the lab.  If you are working with a post-doc, then they may also send the email but they must state the name of the PI of the lab.  If you are working with a graduate student, then they need to have either the PI or post-doc send the email. 

Research Exit Session:

All exit sessions will be held in the Neuroscience and Behavioral Biology Conference Room – Dunning 414 - during the last week of classes. 

For these sessions, each student will need to prepare a 2-3 minute presentation.  These are not powerpoint presentations.   The presentation should include an overview of the work that is being done in the lab (questions being addressed, methods used, etc.), your role in the project, and something about the composition of the lab (i.e., it is a large lab with grad students, post docs, etc.).  In your presentation, you should be able to describe your work in terms that anyone (your parents, siblings, the lady in the grocery store, etc.) can understand.  You should also be able to answer questions that your colleagues and fellow neuroscientists may have.

Students not registered for research are welcome to attend any or all of the sessions.  Come and find out about the labs our students are working in.  You do not need to sign up to attend if you are just visiting. 

Research SURVEY:

All students will also be required to complete an online Research Survey set up on Survey Monkey.  During the last week of classes you should receive an email directing you to the survey.  If you do not receive an email, contact Hope Stein at hope.stein@jhu.edu.

RESEARCH PAPER:

Students must turn a typewritten report on work accomplished to the Homewood faculty sponsor during their Scientific Communication Exit Session.  Unless an alternative arrangement has been made with the sponsor beforehand, late reports will not be accepted and may result in a grade of Unsatisfactory. The typewritten report must be signed by the lab supervisor.  If you are working with a post-doc, then they may sign the paper but they must state the name of the PI of the lab.  If you are working with a graduate student, then the PI or a post-doc must sign the paper. 

Guidelines for Neuroscience Research Paper

General Info:

Your paper should be in journal article format and should include each of the sections below. 

Think of your paper as a “work in progress”.  Talk to people in your lab about the project.  When you are just starting out in a lab, the most you may be able to complete is the introduction.  You should, however, be able to speculate on what the expected results are and then write how these results, if obtained, would address the questions the project addresses.  Each semester that you work on the project, you should be able to add to the paper you are writing.

There is no page limit. 

Your paper should be grammatically correct, concise, and referenced properly.  If you do not see it yourself, say it yourself, think it yourself or do it yourself, reference it!!!

Your lab supervisor needs to sign the front of the paper indicating that he/she has read the paper – no grade assignment is necessary.

Paper Sections:

Title – The title should be a concise description of the project.

Abstract – This is a brief summary of the project that you are working on – an overview.

Introduction - This section includes the questions that the project(s) addresses – the hypothesis.  It should also include a background, with references, that informs the reader about why the hypothetical questions are being asked.

Everyone should be able to write this section.  You need to ask questions and get papers the lab has previous published.  You should understand the project that you are working on, even if your job is only one aspect of the project.

This section should be well referenced.

Methods - What techniques are being used to answer the questions?  Why are these techniques being used?  What protocols are being used? What experimental subjects and groups? Etc.

Again, you need to understand this component even if you are not actually using the techniques.  You can also reference other papers that have used these methods so you do not need to write out the methods.

Results - What data have you collected?  If none, what are the results you might see? 

Discussion – What do the results, either obtained or speculated, mean to the questions that you set out to answer?  How will this advance the field?

Reference List – List your references that you have used.