Developmental Biology
BIO369
Spring 2024
Instructor: Greg Hermann
Office: Bio-Psych 226
Phone:503-768-7568
Email: hermann@lclark.edu
Class: T, Th; 11:30AM - 1PM in Howard 115
Lab: Th 1:50-4:50 PM in Blue Lab
Office Hours: Tues 1-2PM and Wed noon-1PM,
by appt. and when my office door is open.
Texts: Developmental Biology, 11th Ed Gilbert & Barresi and Endless Forms Most Beautiful, Carroll
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.