Teaching and Seminars

In Part I, students read An Unquiet Mind by Kay Redfield Jamison, a memoir by a scientist living with bipolar disorder, and discuss lived experience, representation, and the diversity of how mental health conditions are expressed, motivating a shift beyond average-based case–control thinking. Part II introduces conceptual frameworks for individual differences, including HiTOP, RDoC, and normative modeling; through lectures and student-led paper discussions, students examine deviation mapping, heterogeneity, and the promises and limitations of these approaches. In Part III, students learn what biomarkers are and how they are constructed, develop Python scripts to derive biomarkers from functional MRI data, and estimate normative models, gaining a practical understanding of how individual-level deviation scores are computed and why they constitute a central analytic currency in modern mental health research. If students wish to receive a grade for this course, assessment will be based on active participation, a presentation, and a written reflection on what they have learned during the course.

Each year, 14 influential ideas are selected from a curated pool of 50 seminal concepts, with approximately eight drawn from neuroscience, three from psychology, and three from machine learning, anchoring the course in neuroscience while highlighting the ideas that have most profoundly transformed it. The selection is randomized each year, ensuring intellectual diversity, renewal, and a sense of discovery. Each lecture introduces a central idea alongside the key papers that defined its origin, impact, and influence across fields. Selected sessions include student-led presentations of seminal papers, encouraging critical evaluation and active participation. By the end of the course, students will have developed a broad, coherent overview of foundational ideas, an understanding of how they influenced one another, and a clear perspective on how neuroscience, psychology, and machine learning have jointly shaped contemporary thinking. If students wish to receive a grade for this course, assessment will be based on active participation and an in-depth critical evaluation of a research paper.

The small group creates an intensive, interactive setting with close mentorship. Admission is based on a short letter of motivation and overall fit with the lab’s research focus. The seminar features in-depth presentations by postdoctoral researchers, PhD students, and external collaborators, offering students first-hand insight into cutting-edge research in the lab. Participants are expected to engage actively in discussions and, at an appropriate stage, to present either a seminal paper or their own research idea or proposal. Students interested in participating should submit a brief letter of motivation and CV via email.