Developmental Biology 3022 Spring 2006
Instructor: Alice Heicklen
Time: TR 1:10pm-2:25pm
Place: 253 Engineering Terrace
Dept.: Biological Sciences
Office: 744B Mudd Bldg.
Office Hours: Monday 10-11am
e-mail: ah2289@columbia.edu
Phone: 212-854-5952
TA: Will Parks wmb2103@columbia.edu
Prerequisite: c2005/2006 or a comparable year of intro biology
A. Grades :
There will be 3 exams. The final is cumulative. You will also receive a grade for your in-class presentations and participation. The final grade will be distributed as follows:
Exam I = 200
Exam II = 200
Presentation = 200
Lead Discussion = 50
Participation = 50
Final = 300
1000 points total
B. Student Presentations :
Aim : Isolate the main points of an article. Methods for breaking down an article will be discussed.
Presentation : Each student will present an article to the class. The talks should be 10 minutes long with 5 minutes of discussion. Each student will turn in a 1-2 page summary (5 of the 20 points for the presentation) of the article they are presenting a week before they present and set up an appointment to discuss the main findings with the instructor.
1/17 Development Overview
Fate mapping Ch1: 3-14
Stem Cells/Cloning Ch4:81-91; Ch21:708-711
1/19 X-Chromosome Inactivation Ch5: 107-8; 123-7
Imprinting/Telomeres
1/24 Spermatogenesis Ch19: 628-646
Oogenesis
Mammalian Menstrual Cycle
The Pill
IVF Ch21: 683-7; 693-4
1/26 Sex Determination in mammals Ch 17
1/31 Cytoplasmic Determinants Ch 19: 613-628
PGC Migration
2/2 Fertilization Ch7
2/7 Differentiation Ch3: 56-79
Autonomous/Conditional
Morphogens
Cadherins
2/9 Presentation of Okamote et al. 2005
2/14 Exam I
2/16 Induction (Wnt, Vulva & lens) Ch6
Paracrine/Juxtacrine
Early Development/Cell Movements Ch8: 221-227
2/21 Sea Urchin Development Ch8:227-239
Deuterostomes/Protosomes Ch2: 44-47
2/23 Presentations I
2/28 Amphibian Development Ch2: 25-30; Ch10
3/2 Presentations II
3/7 Early Mammalian Development Ch11: 363-380
3/9 Presentations III
3/13-17 Spring Break
3/21 Fly Development Ch19: 637-8; Ch9
3/23 Presentation IV
3/28 Exam II
3/30 Evo Devo Ch23
CMM
4/4 Presentation V
4/6 Germ Layers
Heart Development Ch15: 491-500
4/11 Presentation VI
4/13 No Class
4/18 Presentation VII
4/20 Presentation VIII
4/25 Presentation IX
4/27 Presentation X
Cumulative Final Exam (including Research Articles)
Tuesday, May 9 th from 1:10-4:00pm
D. Article Summaries
Steps to Breaking down an article:
Novice : read introduction to get the background you need to get started. Go to results section.
Some experience : skip to the results section. Read this along with the accompanying figures. Determine what are the main findings in this article – this is obtained directly from the figures. If they want to claim to have determined something the proof must be in the figures or they have not really found it. Stating findings in the abstract aren’t enough they have to back it up with research. It is your job to figure out what they really proved by examing the figures. If you are lost go back and read the introduction or look up a specific method that is not clear on the internet.
Abstract : Read after you decide what the main points are and see if they obtained the same results. If they claim something that you didn’t, go back to the figures and see if this result is supported by data.
Methods : In general you can skip this section unless you are missing a specific detail about how they set up the experiment – you would realize this while you are reading the results section and would go to the methods section to look up the information you are missing.
Discussion : tells how the author integrated their findings with the known literature. Read this before write your 2 questions/article for class. It will help you think of questions and analyze the data.
The summary of the article you are presenting should include:
-The summary should not be a repeat of the abstract
-Student presentations should include all information in the summary but also include enough background to explain the article to the class. Discussion of the article will follow each lecture or each group of lectures and will be lead by a different student in the class.
E. Student Participation
All articles presented in class are required reading for the entire class. The more articles you read and analyze the easier it will get.
Each student will submit two questions regarding each article on the class before the article is presented. An additional copy with only the questions will be given to the students that will present during the next class period. These questions will be reviewed by the presenter(s) and used to organize their presentation.
Participation (50 points): Students will receive a grade on their participation during the article discussions.
Lead Discussion (50 points): Students will receive a grade on leading the discussion of an article discussion.
F. Required Books/Articles
Recommended Books
Helpful Books
G. Readings Assignments: Papers for Lectures
The first article, Okamoto et al, will be presented in class, 2/9/06 , by the instructor. All students are required to read the paper prior to class and participate in class discussion.
Okamoto, Arnaud, Le Baccon, Otte, Disteche, Avner and Heard (2005) Evidence for de novo imprinted X-chromosome inactivation independent of meiotic inactivation in mice. Nature 438: 369-373 News & Reviews: Flintoft (2005) X inactivation: Imprinted inactivation: narrowing down the options. Nature Reviews Genetics 6: 875-877
H. Student Presentations
Presentations I: Chromatin Regulation
Review : Bekaert et al. (2004) Telomere Biology in Mammalian Germ Cells and During Development. Developmental Biology 274: 15-30
Presentation II:Determination of PGCs/Sex
Review : Raz (2004) Guidance of primordial germ cell migration. Current Opinion in Cell Biology 16: 169-173
Presentation III:Centrosomes
Presentation IV:Early Development 1
Presentation V:Early Development 2
Presentation VI:Fly Axis Polarity
Presentation VII:Homeotic Gene Regulation/EvoDevo A
Presentation VIII: Cellular Memory Modules
Presentation IX: Heart Regeneration
Review : Solloway, M. J. and Harvey, R. P. 2003 Molecular pathways in myocardial development: a stem cell perspective. Cardiovascular Research 58: 264-277
Review : Cohen S. and Leor J. Rebuilding Broken Hearts Scientific American Nov. 2004 p45-51.
Presentation X: TGF b & Stem Cells