Developmental Biology of Animals

This course prepares you for being a researcher in the field of developmental biology of animals. Drawing from a broad selection of vertebrate and invertebrate model species, it covers a wide range of topics from embryology and postnatal development to evolutionary developmental biology (evo-devo) and regeneration. We specifically focus on a hands-on-experience, allowing you to design, execute and analyze your own experiments.

After successful completion of this course students are expected to be able to:

• summarize the characteristics of a range of popular vertebrate and invertebrate model species;
• understand and explain fundamental processes in embryonic/postnatal development and regeneration (e.g. cell-cell signaling, gene regulation, cell motion, epigenetic modifications)
• understand how embryonic development is related to micro- and macroevolutionary changes;
• understand and use some molecular techniques (e.g. DNA extraction, RNA extraction, gene expression (qPCR, ISH);
• understand how to use software in research (e.g. extract features from experimental data and perform simulations)
• design and execute an experiment, to collect and analyze data, to critically reflect on the results (discussion) and to report the experiment to peers and teachers.

Mandatory Knowledge:
ZSS06100 Laboratory Safety
Assumed Knowledge:
CBI10306 Cell biology; EZO10306 Human and animal biology I; HAP20306 Human and animal biology, part 2