Pembroke College Cambridge

Contemporary Issues in Neuroscience

Professor Joe Herbert

This course looks at the brain: what it does and how it does it. It takes students on a journey through contemporary neuroscience. What do we know about how the brain enables you to feel, see, move, experience emotions and have thoughts and memories? What do we still need to know, and what happens when the brain starts to go wrong? 

Intended Audience

This course is aimed at anyone who wants to learn about the current extensive research into the brain, as well as the knowledge that previous generations of outstanding scholars have already given us. Where are we in our quest to understand the organ that is the basis of personality, individuality, knowledge and consciousness? 

Previous Knowledge

Students do not need any previous knowledge of neuroscience, although some experience of biology may be helpful. However, anyone should be able to join in. We start simple and get more complicated! 

 

Professor Joe Herbert

Professor Herbert is interested in the role of the brain in adaptive responses, with particular reference to the reciprocal interaction between hormones and the brain. His experimental work is focussed on the way that neural factors, such as serotonin and glucocorticoids, regulate the formation of new neurons in the adult hippocampus, and the role these play in responses to stress. He has a large parallel clinical programme focussed on determining the risk factors (genetic, environmental, psychosocial and endocrine) that predispose to depression, in collaboration with Professor Goodyer (Psychiatry). He also works on the role of hormones in financial decision-making and risk perception.