This graduate and advanced undergraduate level lecture and literature discussion course covers the current understanding of the molecular mechanisms that regulate animal development. Evolutionary mechanisms are emphasized as well as the discussion of relevant diseases. Vertebrate (mouse, chick, frog, fish) and invertebrate (fly, worm) models are covered. Specific topics include formation of early body plan, cell type determination, organogenesis, morphogenesis, stem cells, cloning, and issues in human development.

Embryo, when applied to mammals, is the term given to the developing organism from fertilisation to birth. Developmental biology, or embryology, is the study of the embryo as it transforms from a unicellular zygote to a multicellular, mulitsystemed organism which in some cases is ready to function autonomously at birth. Developmental biology is of interest to vets in understanding why organs and systems are the way they are, but also in understanding genetic diseases and applying cell based therapies to treat loss or damage to tissues.

The MIT Biology Department core Introductory Biology courses, 7.012, 7.013, 7.014, 7.015, and 7.016 all cover the same core material, which includes the fundamental principles of biochemistry, genetics, molecular biology, and cell biology. The focus of 7.013 is on genomic approaches to human biology, including neuroscience, development, immunology, tissue repair and stem cells, tissue engineering, and infectious and inherited diseases, including cancer.

The MIT Biology Department core courses, 7.012, 7.013, and 7.014, all cover the same core material, which includes the fundamental principles of biochemistry, genetics, molecular biology, and cell biology. 7.013 focuses on the application of the fundamental principles toward an understanding of human biology. Topics include genetics, cell biology, molecular biology, disease (infectious agents, inherited diseases and cancer), developmental biology, neurobiology and evolution.
Biological function at the molecular level is particularly emphasized in all courses and covers the structure and regulation of genes, as well as, the structure and synthesis of proteins, how these molecules are integrated into cells, and how these cells are integrated into multicellular systems and organisms. In addition, each version of the subject has its own distinctive material.

This resource is a video abstract of a research paper created by Research Square on behalf of its authors. It provides a synopsis that's easy to understand, and can be used to introduce the topics it covers to students, researchers, and the general public. The video's transcript is also provided in full, with a portion provided below for preview:

"Notch signaling is the key to many binary decisions metazoan cells make during development. Downstream signals from Notch trigger transcriptional remodeling that resolves dichotomies like differentiation between developmental cell fates. In the "Notch on" state, the Notch intracellular domain (NICD) relocates to the nucleus and binds to the protein RBPJ. While Notch activation is well studied, the transition to the "Notch off" state, where NICD and RBPJ dissociate, is not well understood. Recent research using phylogenetic analysis, computational biochemistry, and in vitro experiments suggests that heat flux is an important regulator of Notch signaling. The researchers determined that NICD senses temperature changes through its ankyrin domain. The ankyrin domain is highly conserved across species and contains β-hairpins enriched for charged amino acids. These charged amino acids amplify destabilizing electrostatic interactions, making the domain vulnerable to heat destruction..."

The rest of the transcript, along with a link to the research itself, is available on the resource itself.

This resource is a video abstract of a research paper created by Research Square on behalf of its authors. It provides a synopsis that's easy to understand, and can be used to introduce the topics it covers to students, researchers, and the general public. The video's transcript is also provided in full, with a portion provided below for preview:

"Like a symphony, the earliest moments of life play out with incredible precision. Take the fruit fly embryo. Unlike a human embryo, where a single cell becomes many through repeated rounds of cell division, the early embryo of the fruit fly starts as a single nucleus that then divides into thousands of nuclei, all within the same cell. During these divisions, the nuclei must navigate through the embryo to highly specific locations before they become separated into the thousands of cells that will eventually develop into an adult fly. A new report in Cell describes how these nuclei steer themselves to where they need to be. To uncover the mechanisms that drive nuclear positioning and cell cycle synchronization, the team developed state-of-the-art imaging and computational tools to manipulate and track cell cycle and cytoskeletal dynamics in early embryogenesis. Additionally, the team used optogenetic methods to manipulate cytoskeletal contractility with spatial and temporal accuracy..."

The rest of the transcript, along with a link to the research itself, is available on the resource itself.

Metastatic disease is responsible for the vast majority of deaths associated with cancer, yet our understanding of how metastases arise is still developing. In this course, we will introduce various concepts and models that have been proposed to explain how cancer cells disseminate from a primary tumor to distant anatomical sites. We’ll learn about the critical factors that influence cancer metastasis frontiers through analysis and discussion of relevant primary research articles, with an emphasis on mechanisms of metastasis that can be applied across different cancer types. Students will gain a broad understanding of the field of cancer metastasis, including state-of-the-art techniques that are being used to address pressing questions in the field.
This course is one of many Advanced Undergraduate Seminars offered by the Biology Department at MIT. These seminars are tailored for students with an interest in using primary research literature to discuss and learn about current biological research in a highly interactive setting. Many instructors of the Advanced Undergraduate Seminars are postdoctoral scientists with a strong interest in teaching.

This resource is a video abstract of a research paper created by Research Square on behalf of its authors. It provides a synopsis that's easy to understand, and can be used to introduce the topics it covers to students, researchers, and the general public. The video's transcript is also provided in full, with a portion provided below for preview:

"A change in temperature can easily alter the course of our day. But for some reptiles and fish, it can set the course of their lives—deciding whether they emerge as male or female when they hatch. Basically, temperature affects whether the early gonad becomes a testis (making male hormones) or an ovary (making female hormones). It’s called temperature-dependent sex determination, and it was first described in the late 1960s. But only now are researchers close to understanding how this phenomenon works on a molecular level. A new study reveals the genetic circuitry behind this type of sex determination in red-eared slider turtles. Researchers recently discovered the role played by an epigenetic regulator known as KDM6B, which can control whether a gene is turned on or off. KDM6B is required for the expression of the sex-determination gene Dmrt1, which leads to a male anatomy..."

The rest of the transcript, along with a link to the research itself, is available on the resource itself.

This resource is a video abstract of a research paper created by Research Square on behalf of its authors. It provides a synopsis that's easy to understand, and can be used to introduce the topics it covers to students, researchers, and the general public. The video's transcript is also provided in full, with a portion provided below for preview:

"Rapid evolutionary radiations can produce large numbers of species in relatively short time scales and result in myriad forms. Studying these bursts of speciation provides important insights into the accumulation of biological diversity and the evolution of physical traits. Lake Malawi cichlids represent an impressive example of one such radiation and provide an ideal system for understanding the genetic and molecular pathways underlying trait divergence. Physical differences between organisms are often the result of variation in gene expression, which can occur in spatial, temporal, or quantitative space. In other words, _where_, _when_, and _how much_ the expression of genes change, can have pronounced physical effects. Focusing on the _where_, a team of researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology charted patterns of expression from the jaws to the tails of cichlids..."

The rest of the transcript, along with a link to the research itself, is available on the resource itself.