Developmental Biology

BIO369

Spring 2024

Development and morphology of the C. elegans hermaphrodite gonad (from Atwell, et al. 2015). (A) Development of the gonad (in grey) during larval stages. (B) Formation of cell types during gonad development.  Blue are somatic cells, gold are germline stem cells, green are meiotic germline cells, dark blue are sperm cells, and red are oocytes.  (C) Organization of the germline stem cells.  (D) A DIC image of one arm of the adult hermaphrodite gonad (bar is 25 micrometers).  Students in BIO369 perform original research investigating the mechanisms regulating the organogenesis of the gonad.

Welcome to the incredibly fascinating, rapidly moving, and always changing world of developmental biology.  In this course we discuss four major questions in the field: (1) How does pattern emerge during development? (2) What are the cellular processes that underlie the formation of morphology. (3) What are the molecular mechanisms that regulate patterning? (4) How does pattern evolve?  We will discuss some of the hypotheses, experiments, and results that have led to our current (and only partially complete) answers to these questions.