The Textbook for this course is: Developmental Biology 7th ed.by Scott F. Gilbert. Sinauer Associates, Inc., publisher, Sunderland MA. 2003.

Strongly Recommended for Laboratory: A Photographic Atlas of Developmental Biology Shirley J. Wright. Morton Publishing Co. 2005.

Part I: An Introduction to Developmental Biology

Day	Date	Lecture Topic	Readings
M	Jan 16	Class 1. Introduction: What is developmental biology? History and Basic Concepts	Text Ch. 1: pp 1-16
W	Jan 18	Class 2. Human Stem Cell Cloning Controversy: What is it about? Why does it matter? How are human stem cells cloned?	Hwang, W.S. et al., (2004) Evidence of a pluripotent human embryonic stem cell line derived from a cloned blastocyst. Science 303: 1669-1674. (Download both the Article and the Supporting Online Materials through the Blackboard site.)
F	Jan 20	Class 3. Human Stem Cell Cloning Controversy (con't) Class discussion	Hwang, W.S. et al., (2006) Patient-specific embryonic stem cells derived from human SCNT blastocysts Science 308: 1777-1783. (Download both the Article and the Supporting Online Materials through the Blackboard site.)

Part II: From Sperm and Egg to Embryo

Day	Date	Lecture Topic	Readings
M	Jan 23	Class 4. Beginning the Developmental Program: Gametogenesis Structure of eggs and sperm Comparing oogenesis and spermatogenesis	Text Ch. 7, pp 183-189; Ch 19 pp 628-633
W & F	Jan 25 & 27	Classes 5 & 6. Fertilization: Beginning a New Organism Gamete recognition Gamete fusion and prevention of polyspermy Activation of egg metabolism Fusion of the genetic material	Text: Ch. 7 pp187-210.
M & W	Jan 30 & Feb 1	Classes 7 & 8. Cleavage: Generating a Multicellular Embryo Overview of Cleavage Amphibians Birds Mammals	Text: Ch. 8, pp 221-225; Ch. 10 pp 305-307; Ch 11 pp 354-355, 363-368
F	Feb 3	Class 9. Mammalian Morphogenesis Overview of Human Development	Ch. 11 pp 363-368; 370-373. Supplementary Reading: A Child is Born by Lennart Nilsson
F	Feb 3	Trip to Franklin Institute to see BodyWorlds Exhibit
M	Feb 6	Class 10. Gastrulation: Reorganizing the Embryonic Cells to Form the Germ Layers in Round Embryos Types of cell movements Sea Urchins	Text: Ch 8 pp 233-239
W	Feb 8	Class 11. Amphibian Gastrulation Cleavage review Morphogenetic movements Germ layers	Text: Ch. 10, pp 305-317
F	Feb 10	Class 12. The Cellular Basis of Morphogenesis: Cell Motility and Differential Cell Affinity Introducing the Molecular Players Cell Motility Changes in Adhesive Properties.	Text: Ch 3, 69-77

 

 

Monday Feb 13 HOUR EXAM #1 Lectures 1-12

 

 

Day	Date	Lecture Topic	Readings
W	Feb 15	Class 13. Setting up the Body Axes in Amphibians Animal-Vegetal Axis Rotation of Fertilization and the Dorso-Ventral Axis Nieuwkoop Center Spemann & Mangold discover the Organizer	Text: Ch. 10, pp 317-338
F	Feb 17	Class 14. Forming the Germ Layers in Amphibians Endoderm Determination Mesoderm Induction: Dorsal vs. Ventral Ectoderm: Epidermis vs. Neural Fate	Text: Ch. 10, pp 317-338
M	Feb 20	Class 15. Development of the Nervous System I Neural Tissue Commitment Neurulation	Text: Ch 12 pp 391-402, 413-415
W	Feb 22	Class 16. Development of the Nervous System II Patterning on the A/P and D/V axes Special Sensory Systems	Text: Ch. 12 pp 401-407
F & M	Feb 24 & 27	Classes 17 & 18. Neurogenesis and Axon Guidance	Text: Ch. 13 pp 442-456
W	Mar 1	Class 19. Gastrulation and Germ Layer Formation in Flat Amniote Embryos Introduction to Amniotes Avian model system (chickens) A/P and D/V Axis Formation	Text: Ch. 11, pp 354-363, 368-372
F	Mar 3	Class 20. Paraxial Mesoderm: the Somites and their Derivatives	Text: Ch 14 pp 465-473

SPRING BREAK: MARCH 6-10

Part III: Development Occurs Under Genetic Control

M	Mar 20	Class 24. Genomic Constancy during Cell Differentiation	Text: Ch 2 pp 30-32; Ch 4
W	Mar 22	Class 25. Differential Gene Activity	Text: Ch 4 pp 92-98.
F & M	Mar 24 & 27	Classes 26 & 27. Regulation of Gene Expression in Early Development Transition from maternal to zygotic control	Text: Ch. 5
W & F	Mar 29 & 31	Classes 28 & 29. Models of Cell Differentiation Muscle Neural Crest	Text: Ch 14 pp 473-474, Ch. 13 pp 427-439

Monday April 3 HOUR EXAM #2 Through lecture 29

Part IV: Patterning the Organism and Specification of Cell Fate

W	Apr. 5	Class 30. Identifying Developmental Toolkit Genes
F-F	Apr. 7-14	Classes 31-34. Development of the Drosophila Body Plan Introduction Maternal genes specify the A/P Axis Activation of Zygotic Segmentation Genes Segment Identity Genes	Text: Ch. 9
M	Apr. 17	Class 35. Ascidian Development	Text: Ch 8 pp 246-250

Part V: Completing the Life Cycle, and New Beginnings

W	Apr. 19	Class 36. Saga of the Germ Line Germ cell determination and migration Non-equivalence of mammalian pro-nuclei	Text: Ch. 12, pp 429-438
F & M	Apr 21 & 24	Classes 37&38. Sex Determination and Differentiation of the Mammalian Reproductive System Events of development (Class 37) Hormonal Influences on Mammalian Sexual Development (Class 38)	Text. Ch. 17 pp 547-560
W & F	Apr. 26 & 28	Classes 39 & 40. Development and Evolution Developmental mechanisms of evolutionary change Evolution of morphological novelty	Text: Ch. 21

Final Exam will be a 3 hour Self-Scheduled Exam, covering the entire course, but covering in greater detail the material covered since the second hour exam.

GRADING POLICY: Your grade will be based on your performance on the two hour exams (1/6 each exam); the Final Exam (1/3); and on two written Lab Reports (1/9 each report) and a Lab Practical Exam (1/9).

Complete References to Additional Readings:

Ledley, F.D. (1982) Evolution and the human tail. New Eng. J. Med. 303:1212-1215.

McGrath, J. and D. Solter (1984) Completion of mouse embryogenesis requires both the maternal and paternal genomes. Cell 43:179-183.

Newport, J. and M. Kirschner (1982) A major developmental transition in early Xenopus embryos. I. Characterization and Timing of Cellular Changes at the Midblastula Transition. II. Control of the onset of the transcription. Cell 30:675-686; 687-696.

Wilmut, I., A.E. Schneidk, J. McWhir, A.J. Kind, and K.H.S. Campbell (1997) Viable offspring from fetal and adult mammalian cells. Nature 385:810-814.

Other Recommended Reference Texts: (on Reserve in Collier Library)

Alberts, B., D. Bray, A. Johnson, J. Lewis, M Raff, K. Roberts and P. Walter. (1998) Essential Cell Biology Garland Pub. Inc., New York.

Balinsky, B. I. (1975) An Introduction to Embryology, 4th ed. W. B. Saunders, pub. Philadelphia

Browder, L. W., C. Erickson and W.R. Jeffrey (1991) Developmental Biology, 3rd ed. Saunders College Publishing, Philadelphia.

Campbell, N. A. and J. B. Reece (2002) Biology, 6th ed Benjamin Cummings, pub., San Fransciso Horstadius, S.(1973) Experimental Embryology of Echinoderms Clarendon Press, Oxford.

Karp, G. (2002) Cell and Molecular Biology: Concepts and Experiments (3rd ed) John Wiley & Sons Inc., pub. New York

Nilsson, L. and L. Hamberger (1990) A Child is Born Delacorte Press, New York.

Patten, B. M. and B.M. Carlson (1974) Foundations of Embryology, 3rd ed. McGraw Hill, pub. New York.

Wolpert, L. et al., (2001) Principles of Development 2nd ed., Oxford U. Press.

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This page was last modified on 17 March 2006.