CB 207: Vertebrate Developmental, Stem Cell and Regenerative Biology

CB207 is evenly divided between lectures and conference sessions which cover the principals that guide vertebrate development and stem cell maintenance in various renewing tissues;  in addition, we discuss how these principals can be leveraged to generate cells/tissues for regenerative biology or disease modeling in vitro.  Specific topics include a molecular dissection of  the signaling pathways, gene regulatory networks, and epigenetic mechanisms that control primary axis formation and regional specification, establishment of cell fate, homeotic genes and patterning, cell migration and cell-cell signalling, formation of the nervous system, craniofacial development, axonal connections, muscle formation and regeneration, morphogenesis of branched tubular systems, vasculogenesis, biomechanical regulation of developmental processes, limb development and regeneration, stem cell maintenance in various renewing tissues, germ cells and pluripotency.  We will discuss in depth how the same molecular tool kit employed during development also maintains stem cells in the adult; and can be redeployed to generate cells/tissues for regenerative biology or disease modeling in vitro.

 

Students employ the knowledge gained by lectures and conference sessions to identify two interesting new research goals in either vertebrate development, stem cell, or regenerative biology and present research proposals to achieve these goals. Thus, a goal of this course is for students to learn how to synthesize the literature to come up with their own novel research ideas, and develop a strategy to investigate their hypotheses.

 

Previous Year's Syllabus

Date
Format
Topic
Lecturer
Establishing the Body Plan: Concepts and Technologies
1-27
Lecture
A Toolbox to tinker an embryo and the vertebrate game plan
Lassar
1-29
Lecture
How positional information is established in gastrulation
Megason
2-3
Conference
Establishing positional information with in vitro models
Megason/Lassar
2-5
Lecture
Hox Code, Segmentation, Bilateral Symmetry, and Left-Right Patterning
Pourpuie
2-10
Conference
Hox Codes and Anteroposterior Axis Specification
Pourpuie/Megason
2-12
Lecture
Metamerization of paraxial mesoderm and modeling development in vitro with iPS technology
Pourquie
2-17
President's Day
2-19
Conference
Directed Differentiatin of ES and iPS cells for regeneration and disease modeling
García-Cardeña/Lassar
2-24
Lecture
Dynamic interpretation of signals by cells: quantitative imaging
Megason
2-26
Conference
Quantitative modeling of developmental signaling in vitro
Pourquie
3-2
Student Presentations
Student Specified Topics
Megason/Lassar/Pourquie/Lehoczky
From Cells to Tissues
3-4
Lecture
Morphogens and their interpretation: wiring cell fate in the developing neural tube
Lassar
3-9
Conference
Organoid models of nervous system development and their application
Lassar/Pourquie
3-11
Lecture
Guided Migration: Axon Development and Regeneration
Flanagan
3-16
Spring Vacation
3-18
Spring Vacation
3-23
Lecture
Branching morphogenesis in vascular development
García-Cardeña
3-25
Conference
Pathfinding in regeneration
García-Cardeña/Flanagan
3-30
DRB Symposium
4-1
Lecture
Neuromuscular development and mechanistic insights for human birth defects/congential diseases
Gupta
4-6
Conference
Skeletal muscle stem cells in aging and disease
Gupta/Lassar
4-8
Lecture
Formation of the skeleton and Integration of the musculo-skeletal system
Lassar
4-13
Student Presentations
Student Specified Topics
Lassar/Kreidberg/Flanagan/Gupta
Integration: From Tissues to Organs
4-15
Lecture
Limb Patterning
Lehoczky
4-2
Conference
Limb Regeneration
Lehoczky/Lassar
4-22
Lecture
Endoderm-derived organ development/branching morphogenesis and RTK signaling
Kreidberg
4-27
Conference
Modeling development with epithelial organoids
Kreidberg/Megason
4-29
Lecture
Biomechanical Regulation of Developmental Processes
Garcia-Cardena
5-4
Conference
García-Cardeña/Kreidberg
García-Cardeña/Kreidberg
5-6
Conference
Zen and the Art of Embryo Construction
Lassar and Colleagues
5-11
Lecture
Urogenital Developent and Sexual Differentiation
Kreidberg
5-13
Student Presentations
Student Specified Topics
Megason/Kreidberg/Lehoczky/Garcia-Cardena

 

Examples of research topics proposed by prior years’ CB207 students include:

The Role of Notch Signaling in Biliary-Driven Regeneration in Zebrafish

Regulation of Epiblast Transition by Subunit Switching in a Chromatin Remodeler

Probing the effects of Ibuprofen on enteric neural crest cell migration in iPSC-derived neural crest cells

Role of Non-Canonical Hippo Pathway in Neuroectoderm Differentiation

Regulation of liver remodeling during lamprey metamorphosis by thyroid hormone signaling

The Molecular Basis of Hydrostatic Pressure Interpretation During Neural Expansion

Hematopoietic Stem Cell Aging and Rejuvenation by Osteopontin

Germline Stem Cells (GSCs) in the Adult Mammalian Ovary

 

The course site can be found here.