Biology 441   VERTEBRATE EMBRYOLOGY   Spring Semester 2010    Albert Harris

MWF 11-12 Wilson 107
Textbook: J. M. W. Slack "From Egg to Embryo" Regional Specification in Early Development
Slack's book concentrates on the molecular mechanisms & genes that control development;
He assumes readers already know basic embryology, and concentrates on experiments & concepts.

Office Room 103 Wilson Hall: Office Hours Monday noon until 2:00; Friday noon until 4:00 and at other times by appointment

akharris@bio.unc.edu
phone 966-1230

Teaching Assistants: Tessa Crowl: tcrowl@email.unc.edu   and   Ray Fox: raymond_fox@med.unc.edu

  
1) Mon. Jan 11 Basic concepts of embryonic development (Please read Slack: Chapter one; web page)
 
2) Wed. Jan 13 Blocks to polyspermy; resting potentials, responses of cells to voltages. web page
 
3) Fri. Jan. 15 Comparison of development & gastrulation in urchins, fish, frogs, birds & mammals; gastrulation figure;
some vocabulary; (Please read Slack pages 112 to page 126; also read pages 67 through page 112)
 
  Mon. Jan 18        No class: Holiday in honor of Martin Luther King
 
4) Wed. Jan. 20: Early dev. of birds and mammals (Read Slack pages 195 through 212, & 171-194)
web page: Which fact has surprised you most so far?
 
5) Fri. Jan. 22: Fate mapping; cell lineages; regulative versus mosaic development; induction; homeotic genes
web page; (Please read Slack Chapter 2 = pages 9 through 31 ; Don't bother to memorize his glossary)
 
6) Mon. Jan. 25: Ectoderm; neurulation; brain development; neural crest, placodes, lens, inner ear; web page
 
7) Wed. Jan. 27: Mesoderm: notochord; somites; dermatome; myotome; sclerotome; web page
 
8) Fri. Jan. 29: Intermediate mesoderm; development of kidneys, sex ducts; heart & coelom; web page
 
9) Mon. Feb. 1: Endoderm; digestive tract, lungs, liver etc. Stomodeum.
 
10) Wed. Feb. 3: Primordial germ cells and review for exam.
 
 review questions for exam
 
  Knowing everything on the list of review questions should be sufficient for a B+ or A-
 
11) Fri. Feb. 5: First hour exam (some short answer & essays, some short answer)
 
12) Mon. Feb. 8: Theoretical embryology; Reaction diffusion systems; web page
 
  links to some published papers to look at
 
13) Wed. Feb. 10: Symmetry; reflection symmetry, displacement symmetry; "breaking symmetry"
CLASS CANCELLED; web page on this topic
 
14) Fri. Feb. 12: Mechanical forces in embryos; how cells crawl, epithelia fold, and cartilage swells.
CLASS CANCELLED
 
15) Mon. Feb. 15: Sorting out by differentiated and randomly mixed cells; what does it tell us? web page
 
16) Wed. Feb. 17: Curvature, tension, elasticity. Quantities are to vectors, as vectors are to...? tensors! web page
 
17) Fri. Feb. 19: How do forces create shapes; Homeostasis of geometrical shapes
 
18) Mon. Feb. 22: Theories about "Positional Information", and alternatives to them.
 
19) Wed. Feb. 24: Genes that control axis formation in flies: What Slack calls "The Breakthrough"
(Please read chapter seven in Slack, and try to get the main ideas; we won't learn every detail.)
 
Fri. Feb. 26: Hox gene transcription patterns in vertebrates, including mice & humans.
 
21) Mon. Mar. 1: Review of subjects since the first exam.
review questions, more review questions, overview of pattern causes and symmetries
 
22) Wed. Mar. 3: Second hour exam
 
23) Fri. Mar. 5: Developmental mechanisms in plants, as compared with animal embryology; plants.htm
 
         March 8-12 spring break
 
24) Mon. Mar. 15: - Developmental mechanisms in plants, as compared with animal embryology
 
25) Wed. Mar. 17: Development of the circulatory system
web page on extraembryonic membranes
 
26) Fri. Mar. 19: Development of teeth;   web page
 
27) Mon. Mar. 22: Development in embryos with especially mosaic development. Chapter 5 of Slack
 
28) Wed. Mar. 24: Development in embryos with especially mosaic development
web page
 
29) Fri. Mar. 26: Cellular slime molds as a model for understanding how embryos develop
 
30) Mon. Mar. 29: Regeneration; web page on Drosophila genetics
pdf file on gap genes and co-linearity
 
31) Wed. Mar. 31: Stages in the history of embryology: Preformationism, Recapitulationism, etc.
 
 Fri. Apr. 2:        No Class: Good Friday
 
32) Mon. Apr. 5: Review of material since the previous exam: review questions
 
33) Wed. Apr. 7: Third Exam (covering subjects described since the second exam)
 
34) Fri. Apr. 9: Birth defects, and their relation to normal mechanisms of body formation; web page on limb buds
 
35) Mon. Apr. 12: Metamorphosis
pdf file on grafting
 
36) Wed. Apr. 14: Wound healing in relation to normal embryological mechanisms;
web page: more on limb buds and apoptosis
 
37) Fri. Apr. 16:  
 
38) Mon. Apr. 19: Embryology of the nervous system
web page
 
39) Wed. Apr. 21:  
 
39) 40) Fri. Apr. 23: Cancer, and cell invasiveness, in relation to normal development; web page
 
41) Mon. Apr. 26: Future directions in embryological research
web page on shape homeostasis
 
42) Wed. Apr. 28: Review of material covered all semester
review questions, first part
review questions, last part
 
  Classes End
some final thoughts
 
  Final Exam Monday May 3rd, 12:00 pm
 

 

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