Experiential learning in neurophysiology for undergraduate biomedical engineering students

The undergraduate engineering curriculum generally consists of a significant amount of theory and mathematics that are deemed necessary to solve problems in the real world. For biomedical engineering undergraduates this often results in limited hands-on experiences with live tissue samples and biological experimental techniques. In the Biomedical Engineering Program at the University of Rhode Island, this issue is addressed to some extent by implementing an experiential electrophysiology laboratory. The two-semester project course exposes the students to laboratory skills in dissection, instrumentation and physiological measurements. The focus of the projects is: 1) recording of action potentials in cerebral ganglia of the pond snail (Lymnaea stagnalis), 2) measuring of contractile forces and action potentials in odontophore protractor muscles of the American channeled whelk (Busycon canaliculalum) by use of a sucrose gap apparatus. This laboratory has proven to be an effective way to provide undergraduate biomedical engineering students with invaluable experiences in neurophysiology.