Developmental Biology

Catalog description

This advanced course affords students the opportunity to study the experimental basis underlying current understanding of animal development. Students read and present their analyses of seminal research papers in Developmental Biology, including classic examples as well as recent breakthrough publications. The key tools used to study the mechanisms by which genes construct multicellular organisms from fertilized eggs are a major focus of the course. This team-taught course is not a comprehensive survey of animal development. Rather, the focus is on the empirical approaches used to generate developmental concepts. Background lectures by your professors will be followed by student presentations and discussions. Extensive class participation by all students in the class is expected. NOTE: This class does not have a lab component, however, it still fulfills the requirement of a Functional Biology category class. Prerequisites: Biol 121, Biol 122. Recommended: Biol 120, Biol 123L, Biol 124L, Biol 331.