2024 Embryology Schedule

Click here to download the 2024 Embryology Schedule.

Day Time Event

Module 1: Microscopy, Echinoderms, Tunicates and Other Basal Deuterostomes (June 2 - June 9)

Sunday, June 2

7:00 pm Reception & Dinner – 2nd Floor Loeb (room #256)

 Tatjana Piotrowski, (Stowers); Athula Wikramanayake, (Univ. Miami), Welcome and Course overview. Bring your posters

Monday, June 3

Morning Lecture

Tatjana Piotrowski, (Stowers Institute) and Athula Wikramanayake, (Univ. Miami), Intro to Embryology Course and Developmental Biology and metazoan body plans

Afternoon lab (1PM)

Marine Resource Center tour and tour of Loeb. (1-3PM)
Jon Henry, (MBL), Zak Swartz (MBL), Margherita Perillo (MBL), Athula Wikramanayake (UMiami), Tool making & microinjection (use echinoderms to practice microinjections) (3-6PM)
Evening lab (7:30PM)

Continue tool making & microinjection

Tuesday, June 4

Morning lecture

Lisa Cameron, (Duke U.), Michelle Itano, (UNC Chapel Hill), Paula Montero Llopis (Harvard), Light and confocal microscopy

Afternoon lab (1pm) 

Lisa Cameron, (Duke U.), Michelle Itano, (UNC Chapel Hill), Paula Montero Llopis (Harvard), Light and confocal microscopy

Evening lab (7:30pm)

Lisa Cameron, (Duke U.), Michelle Itano, (UNC Chapel Hill), Paula Montero Llopis (Harvard), Light and confocal microscopy

Wednesday, June 5

Morning lecture

Athula Wikramanayake, (Univ. Miami), Introduction to echinoderms and early patterning
Veronica Hinman, (Carnegie Mellon), Gene regulatory network analysis and GRN evolution

Afternoon & evening labs

Echinoderms

Thursday June 6

Morning lecture

Zak Swartz, (MBL), Lessons from sea stars: reproduction and early development in a changing ocean
Margherita Perillo, (MBL), Sea stars and sea cucumbers as models for organogenesis

1:00 - 1:30pm

HCR technology seminar fish bowl

Afternoon & evening labs

Echinoderms

Dinner & Discussion at Swope

Athula Wikramanayake, (Univ. Miami) and Tatjana Piotrowski, (Stowers Institute), Ethics Discussion- authorship and navigating mentor/mentee relationships

Friday, June 7

Morning lecture

Bob Zeller, (San Diego State Univ.), Introduction to ascidian development - sea squirts made easy;
Ed Munro, (Univ. Chicago), Dynamics of morphogenesis in ascidians

Afternoon & Evening labs

Ascidians (echinoderms)

Saturday, June 8

Morning lecture

Lionel Christiaen (Sars Centre, Norway, NYU). Regulation of multipotency and cell fate choices in the cardiopharyngeal lineage of Ciona

Afternoon evening labs

Echinoderms and ascidians

Sunday, June 9 

7pm

Scavenger hunt and course dinner

Things to do this week: T-shirt design for class, softball t-shirt, parade committee

Module 2: Nematodes, Tardigrades, Planaria, Acoels (June 10 - 15)

Monday, June 10

Morning lecture (9-11am)

Dave Sherwood, (Duke), C. elegans introduction & cell-matrix interactions

Afternoon & evening labs

C. elegans

Tuesday, June 11

Morning lectures

Dan Dickinson (UT Austin), Establishing cell polarity
Geraldine Seydoux, (Johns Hopkins/ HHMI), C. elegans early development

1:30pm

Library Tour

Afternoon lab

C. elegans

Wednesday, June 12

Morning lectures 

Bob Goldstein, (UNC Chapel Hill), Tardigrades. Meryl Rose lecture.

Afternoon & Evening labs

Tardigrades (C. elegans)

Thursday, June 13

Morning lecture

Alejandro Sanchez Alvarado, (Stowers Inst.), Planaria & regeneration

Afternoon & evening lab

Planaria (C. elegans, tardigrades)

Friday, June 14

Morning lecture 

Mansi Srivastava, (Harvard), Acoel development & regeneration

Afternoon & evening labs

Acoels (C. elegans, planaria, tardigrades)

Saturday, June 15

Morning concepts discussion

Athula Wikramanayake, (Univ. Miami) and Tatjana Piotrowski, (Stowers Institute)

Afternoon & Evening Labs

C. elegans, acoels, planaria, tardigrades

Class presentations (9pm)

Show ‘n Tell 1 / lab clean up

Sunday, June 16

Free Time

Module 3: Arthropods & Spiralians (June 17 - June 22)

Monday, June 17

Morning lecture

Nipam Patel, (Univ. Chicago/MBL), Drosophila embryogenesis;
Melanie Worley, (UVA) postembryonic development.

Afternoon & evening labs

Arthropods

Tuesday, June 18

Morning lecture

Nipam Patel, (Univ. Chicago/MBL), Evo-devo arthropod body plans, Parhyale;
Melanie Worley, (UVA), Imaginal disk regeneration

Afternoon & Evening labs

Arthropods

Wednesday, June 19

Morning lecture

Lesley Weaver (Indiana University), Drosophila as a model to understand inter-organ communication;
Heather Bruce (University of Chicago/MBL), Arthropod legs: novelty and homology over half a billion years.

Afternoon & evening labs

Arthropods

Thursday, June 20

Morning lectures 

Anyi Mazo-Vargas (Duke U.), Diving into butterfly wing patterning: Understanding genomic organization and signals driving diversity;
Mike Perry (UCSD), The insect visual system as a model for neural development and evolution

Afternoon & Evening Labs

Arthropods

Friday, June 21

Morning lecture

Jon Henry, (MBL), Spiralians,
Dede Lyons, (SIO), Nudibranchs as models for neurogenesis, and regeneration.

Afternoon & evening labs

Spiralians (arthropods)

Dinner ethics discussion

Athula Wikramanayake, (Univ. Miami) and Tatjana Piotrowski, (Stowers Institute).

Saturday, June 22

Morning lecture

Ehab Abouheif (McGill), Ants: nature’s ultimate superorganism

Afternoon & evening labs

Arthropods and Spiralians

Sunday, June 23

Morning and Afternoon

Free Time

Evening lecture (8pm)

Zebrafish orientation

Module 4: Fish and Frogs (June 24 - June 29)
(Please note that there will be morning and evening labs, and afternoon lectures this week)

Monday, June 24

Morning lab (9am)

Zebrafish

Afternoon lecture (1pm)

Elke Ober, (FAU Erlangen, Germany), Endoderm development

Evening lab (7:30-8:30pm) 

Zebrafish / frog lab intro

Tuesday, June 25

Morning lab 

Zebrafish, Frogs

Afternoon lectures (1:30-3:30pm)

John Wallingford (Univ. of Texas, Austin), Introduction to Xenopus development and The structure and function of the motile cilium interactome

Evening lab

Zebrafish, Frogs

Wednesday, June 26

Morning lab 

Zebrafish, Frogs

Afternoon lecture

Tatjana Piotrowski, (Stowers Institute), Zebrafish sensory lateral line development/regeneration
Marina Venero-Galanternik (University of Utah). Zebrafish meningeal development

Evening lab

Frogs, Zebrafish

Thursday, June 27

Morning lab 

Frogs, Zebrafish

Afternoon lecture

Andrea Wills, (Univ. Washington), regeneration in Xenopus;
Shinuo Weng (Johns Hopkins University), May the Force Be with Frogs: From the Bottom Up

Evening lab

Frogs, Zebrafish

Friday, June 28

Morning lab

Frogs, Zebrafish

Afternoon lecture

Michel Bagnat (Duke), Guided and self-organized morphogenesis of the vertebrate anteroposterior axis
Andrew Gillis, (MBL) Skate development and evolution of limbs.

Evening lab 

Zebrafish, Frogs, Skates

Saturday, June 29

Morning lab

Zebrafish, Frogs, Skates

Afternoon lecture (1:30pm)

Yukiko Yamashita, Learning heredity and evolution through the lens of Drosophila spermatogenesis, (Katsuma and Jean Dan lecture).

Evening lab 

Zebrafish, Skates, Frogs

Class presentations (9pm)

Show ‘n Tell 2; lab clean up

Sunday, June 30

Whale watching trip to Hyannis

Module 5: Chicks & Mouse (July 1 - July 6)

Monday, July 1

Morning lecture (9-11am)

Tatjana Sauka-Spengler, (Stowers Institute), Introduction to chick development

Afternoon & evening labs

Chick

Tuesday, July 2

Morning lecture

Richard Behringer (MD Anderson). Introduction to mouse development and vertebrate reproductive organ development.

Afternoon & Evening labs

Mouse (chick)

Wednesday, July 3

Morning lecture

Peter Lwigale (Rice University), Neural crest cells in corneal development

Afternoon & evening labs

Chick and mouse

Thursday, July 4

July 4th Parade

Free time, parade. Course barbeque and fireworks

Friday, July 5

Morning lecture

Ondine Cleaver (UTSW), Introduction to mouse development and development of the vascular system

Afternoon & evening labs

Chick and mouse

Saturday, July 6

Morning lecture

Cliff Tabin (Harvard Medical School). How is the differential folding of the gut epithelium achieved; How did birds evolve the capacity to vocalize?

Afternoon labs

Chick and mouse

Evening 

Softball Game

Sunday, July 7

Free time

Module 6: Cephalopods, Cnidarians, Ctenophores, Annelids (July 8 - 13)

Monday, July 8

Morning lecture

Carrie Albertin (MBL) Introduction to cephalopod development

Afternoon & evening labs

Cephalopods

Tuesday, July 9

Morning lectures

Leslie Babonis (Cornell), Cnidarian development;
Celina Juliano (UC Davis), Introduction to Hydra

Afternoon & evening labs

Cnidarians (cephalopods)

Wednesday, July 10

Morning lectures

Neva Meyer (Clark University), Annelids, nervous system evolution;
Elaine Seaver (Whitney Laboratory for Marine Bioscience) Embryology and regeneration: an annelid perspective

Afternoon & evening labs

Annelids (cnidarians, cephalopods)

Thursday, July 11

Morning lectures

Josh Rosenthal (MBL), Rewriting genetic information in the brains of cephalopods by editing mRNAs (Kessel lecture);
Bill Browne (Univ. Miami.), Ctenophore development and evolution

 

Afternoon & evening labs

Ctenophores (cnidarians, annelids, cephalopods) 

Friday, July 12

Morning lecture 

Blanche Capel (Saunders lecture), Sex Determination with and without Sex Chromosomes

Afternoon & Evening labs

Cnidarians (ctenophores, annelids, cephalopods)

Saturday, July 13

Morning lecture

Celina Juliano (UC Davis), Hydra regeneration (Rafferty lecture),
Phil Cleves (Carnegie Science), Cnidarian-algal endosymbiosis

Afternoon labs 

Cnidarians, ctenophores, annelids, cephalopods

Class presentations (9pm)

Show ‘n Tell 3

Sunday, July 14

Morning discussion 

Athula Wikramanayake, (Univ. Miami) and Tatjana Piotrowski (Stowers Institute)

Afternoon lab

Lab clean-up

Evening (7:30pm)

Course banquet and award ceremony