Ageing and The Brain: The Impact of Neurodegenerative Diseases (FutureLearn)

Ageing and The Brain: The Impact of Neurodegenerative Diseases (FutureLearn)

Learn what happens to the brain as neurodegenerative diseases progress and study the latest research on brain disorder prevention. Explore the challenges of treating and preventing neurodegenerative diseases. There is a distinct difference between normal brain ageing and a brain affected by a neurodegenerative disease. This course will show you how patients diagnosed with brain and neurological disorders are affected and consider the impact of neurodegenerative disorders on our society.

Class Deals by MOOC List - Click here and see FutureLearn's Active Discounts, Deals, and Promo Codes.

Discover the causes, symptoms, diagnosis and treatments of common brain disorders
Led by experts in neuroscience at the Complutense University of Madrid, you’ll explore the several specific neuropathological events that occur due to different brain disorders, including Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, and multiple sclerosis.
You’ll consider the available treatments currently available for these diseases and learn about new lines of research that are ongoing to combat neurodegenerative disorders.

Develop your understanding of brain health
As well as exploring the pathology of common brain disorders, you’ll also develop your knowledge of how normal ageing impacts the brain as you learn what cognitive reserve is and how lifestyle influences brain health.

What topics will you cover?

  • Basic concepts about aging and diseases, collecting information about neurodegenerative disorders and their impact on our society.
  • Normal aging, and its impact on the brain compared with a pathological disorder.
  • Organization of the nervous system, focusing on the main structures, types of cells and the way to transmit information.
  • Alzheimer´s disease, the most common neurodegenerative disorder. Knowing your symptoms as dementia and the possible treatments available.
  • Parkinson´s disease, a movement disorder with a plethora of disabling symptoms caused by selective neuronal death. Other examples of neurodegenerative disorders.
  • Multiple sclerosis and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, in which the spinal cord is the area affected.

What will you achieve?
By the end of the course, you‘ll be able to...

  • Distinguish the effects of normal aging versus pathological aging (including main events occurring in neurodegenerative disorders).
  • Identify the key components of the nervous system and understand how they work.
  • Understand which cells types of the central nervous system are affected in the main neurodegenerative disorders and why they die.
  • Distinguish the main symptoms and the origin of different neurodegenerative disorders.
  • Analyze the current therapeutic strategies against neurodegenerative diseases and the future perspectives.

Who is the course for?
The neuroscience course is designed for anyone interested in the study of neuroscience.
The course will be of particular interest to bioscience students, teachers, and healthcare professionals, as well as brain disorder patients and caregivers.
You do not require any neuroscience background knowledge to follow the course.

Go to Class
MOOC List is learner-supported. When you buy through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.

Related Courses

Healthy Ageing: Concepts, Interventions, and Preparing for the Future (FutureLearn) FutureLearn
University of Birmingham

Healthy Ageing: Concepts, Interventions, and Preparing for the Future (FutureLearn)

The World Health Organisation's Decade of Healthy Ageing is underway. Discover how we can enjoy prolonged years of good health. Discover how to enable healthy ageing as life expectancy increases. Life expectancy is increasing. In the UK, the average person now lives to the age of 81, up from 77 in 2000. This increase in lifespan has not been matched, however, with an increase in ‘healthspan’ – years of healthy, independent life. Many older adults suffer from increased frailty, and other common health problems. This healthcare course from the University of Birmingham addresses current challenges and opportunities related to healthy ageing.

Self Paced
3 Weeks
Introducción a la Psicología (Coursera) Coursera
Universidad Austral

Introducción a la Psicología (Coursera)

¿Qué es el inconsciente? ¿Qué es la autoestima? ¿Qué es el apego y cómo incide en los vínculos adultos ? ¿Cómo funciona nuestro cerebro y cómo se modifica a lo largo de la vida? En este curso se abordarán estos interrogantes y diversos temas vinculados con la Psicología desde una mirada académica y mediante el estudio de los principales autores que han realizado significativos aportes a esta ciencia.

Aug 17th 2026
5-12 Weeks
Advanced Neurobiology II (Coursera) Coursera
Peking University

Advanced Neurobiology II (Coursera)

Hello everyone! Welcome to advanced neurobiology! Neuroscience is a wonderful branch of science on how our brain perceives the external world, how our brain thinks, how our brain responds to the outside of the world, and how during disease or aging the neuronal connections deteriorate. We’re trying to understand the molecular, cellular nature and the circuitry arrangement of how nervous system works.

Aug 10th 2026
5-12 Weeks
What is a Mind? (FutureLearn) FutureLearn
University of Cape Town

What is a Mind? (FutureLearn)

Explore the most pertinent scientific and philosophical concepts for understanding our own minds with this free online course. This free online course will bring together learners and practitioners interested in how the mind works. It aims to build bridges between traditionally antagonistic approaches to understanding the mind.

Jul 25th 2022
5-12 Weeks
Creating Moments of Joy for People with Alzheimer’s (FutureLearn) FutureLearn
Purdue University

Creating Moments of Joy for People with Alzheimer’s (FutureLearn)

Learn how to help people with Alzheimer's disease live as well as possible with practical tips and advice. When someone has short-term memory loss their life is made up of moments. This means we cannot always create a wonderful day, but we can create a wonderful moment. In this course you’ll find out how to encourage and enjoy such wonderful moments.

No sessions available
2 Weeks
Dementia Care: Staying Connected and Living Well (FutureLearn) FutureLearn
Newcastle University

Dementia Care: Staying Connected and Living Well (FutureLearn)

A course for carers, to help you stay connected to loved ones, manage stress at home and diffuse difficult situations. If you are a carer for a person living with dementia then this is a course for you. When it comes to understanding and supporting a person living with dementia, family carers are very often the most skilled and knowledgeable. Yet, you will know that carers can face a number of really stressful situations that can be difficult to deal with.

No sessions available
3 Weeks
Good Brain, Bad Brain: Parkinson's Disease (FutureLearn) FutureLearn
University of Birmingham

Good Brain, Bad Brain: Parkinson's Disease (FutureLearn)

Learn the fundamentals of Parkinson's disease with this online course. What causes it and what we can do to treat it? This online course is aimed at anyone who wants to find out the fundamentals of Parkinson’s disease. We will look at how Parkinson’s disease affects people; what causes it; what we can do to try to ameliorate the symptoms of Parkinson’s; and what we don’t yet know about it.

No sessions available
3 Weeks
Seeing: How the Brain Creates the Visual World (FutureLearn) FutureLearn
National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University (NYCU)

Seeing: How the Brain Creates the Visual World (FutureLearn)

Gain insights into how we perceive sensory system input when it reaches our brains, and the factors affecting that process. Explore how our visual system and human psychology influence our world view. Our visual system is complicated; using our eyes and brains to convert external information into internal feelings and enabling us to see and interpret the world. On this four-week course from the National Chiao Tung University (NCTU), you’ll explore how our eyes and brains constitute the visual world for us and discover that seeing is not always believing.

Self Paced
4 Weeks
Food for Thought: The Relationship Between Food, Gut and Brain (FutureLearn) FutureLearn
EIT Food,EIT,University of Turin

Food for Thought: The Relationship Between Food, Gut and Brain (FutureLearn)

The gut and brain are very closely linked. Explore how neurology, the microbiome and more interact to affect health. Find out how your diet affects your brain, and your brain affects your diet. Over the last few years, the importance of the link between gut and brain has become clear. On this course you’ll explore this complex relationship.

Jan 2nd 2023
5-12 Weeks
Sleep: Neurobiology, Medicine, and Society (Coursera) Coursera
University of Michigan

Sleep: Neurobiology, Medicine, and Society (Coursera)

The objective of this course is to give students the most up-to-date information on the biological, personal, and societal relevance of sleep. Personal relevance is emphasized by the fact that the single best predictor of daytime performance is the quality of the previous night's sleep. The brain actively generates sleep, and the first section of the course is an overview of the neurobiological basis of sleep control.

Aug 17th 2026
5-12 Weeks
PDSAFE: Physiotherapy and Falls Prevention in Parkinson's (FutureLearn) FutureLearn
University of Southampton,University of Exeter

PDSAFE: Physiotherapy and Falls Prevention in Parkinson's (FutureLearn)

Discover a multi-dimensional approach to falls prevention in Parkinson’s patients, following the PDSAFE clinical trial. Identify how frequent falls in Parkinson’s can be prevented Falling is a common and disabling consequence of Parkinson’s disease and presents a major health challenge for physiotherapists.

Jan 9th 2023
5-12 Weeks