electiveHQ

The purpose of the course is to introduce students to the subject of animal development. The course describes the morphology of early development (from fertilization to gastrulation) in a number of animal species and focuses on the molecular basis of antero-posterior patterning in early Drosophila embryos. It also covers germ cell specification, gametogenesis, sex determination and the role of cell-cell signalling in developmental processes. The course emphasises the significance of model organisms and the use of mutagenic strategies for experimental study of developmental processes, and encourages students to critically assess the advantages and limitations of these approaches. The course emphasises the idea that selective gene expression underlies cellular differentiation, and the practical element of the module addresses one experimental strategy for examining of gene expression (RT-PCR).