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BSE652A: Developmental Biology

Course Description

The objective of this course is to provide a comprehensive understanding of the concepts of early animal development. Students taking this course must develop a critical appreciation of methodologies specifically used to study the process of embryonic development in animals. In this course a particular model system will not be discussed in detail. Instead, different concepts of animal development will be elaborated in one model system or the other. Once the concepts are taught the students will be made familiar with different approaches that have been used to study such concepts. Further topics that will be discussed are stem cells and regeneration, the developmental basis of diseases as well as the developmental mechanisms of evolutionary change.

 

Course Content

Topic                                                                                                                                          No. of Lectures

Introduction to animal development....................................................................................................1

Methods of studying developmental biology I: Fate mapping and lineage tracing.............................4

Methods of studying developmental biology II: Candidate gene approach........................................6

Morphogenesis: Differentiation and Cell-cell communication.............................................................6

Axis formation and patterning: Drosophila and Xenopus...................................................................8

Axis formation and patterning: Limb patterning..................................................................................4

Stem cells...........................................................................................................................................2

Regeneration......................................................................................................................................4

Development and disorders...............................................................................................................3

Developmental mechanism of evolutionary change...........................................................................2

Total lectures..................................................................................................................................40

Course Audience

Post graduate students (Ph.D. and M.Tech.) in the 1st or 2nd semester and undergraduate students (B.Tech.) in their 6th or 8th semester.

Outcomes of this Course

The students who have completed this course are expected to have an understing of the basic concepts underlying animal development. They are also expected to have acquired knowledge about the previous as well as current experimental techniques used to study the process of animal development.