This elective CU is a part of the training offer in the 2nd year.

Intended learning outcomes (knowledge, skills and competences to be developed by the students)

• Knowledge of the most important models for the main human behaviours and psychiatric disorders;
• Knowledge of the most important animal tests linked to the main human behaviours and psychiatric disorders;
• Understand the most important biological basis and concepts underlying main human behaviours and psychiatric disorders;
• Be able to link some human behaviours and psychiatric disorders to animal models and respective biological basis;
• Develop competences on the operationalisation of research questions regarding main human behaviours and psychiatric disorders.

Syllabus

Lectures:

• 1-3 Models of main human behaviours and psychiatric disorders: dementia, addiction and reward, depression, anxiety and psychosis;
• 4-6 Animal tests for addiction and reward, learning and memory, learned helplessness, prepulse inhibition, social interaction and anxiety;
• 7-9 Receptors in psychiatric disorders: signalling, modulation, binding studies;
• 10-11 Biological features of main psychiatric disorders;
• 12 Translational research in psychiatry - questions and challenges.

Theoric-practice classes: Clinical cases - discussion six clinical cases will be discussed.

Lab classes: Participation in the ongoing experiments (models and tests), including writing of the models and tests protocol, participation of the ongoing experiments, and final reports writing, and reports discussion.

Seminar: Presentation and discussion of the research protocols for a given problem.