I. Principles of Developmental Biology
1. Developmental biology: The anatomical tradition
New techniques of mathematical modeling of development
2. Life cycles and the evolution of developmental patterns
Recent advances in planarian regeneration
3. Principles of experimental embryology
4. The genetic core of development
5. The paradigm of differential gene expression
Histone modifications
MicroRNAs
Pioneer transcription factors
Mammalian cloning and methylation patterns
6. Cell cell communication in development
Stem cell specification and stem cell niches
Morphogenetic regulation by cadherins
Noncanonical Wnt pathways
Dependence receptors and apoptosis
Community effect and autocrine factors

II. Early Embryonic Development
7. Fertilization: Beginning a new organism
Cortical granule components
New mammalian sperm egg binding model
Mammalian sperm chemotaxis and thermotaxis
Mechanisms of sea urchin sperm chemotaxis
Sea urchin bindin receptor
Oocyte translation inhibitors and their removal
New hypotheses of sperm activation
Mammalian sperm egg fusion
8. Early development in selected invertebrates
Wnt and Nodal in sea urchin axis specification
Coiling genetics of snail embryos
Functions of tunicate yellow crescent
Roles of FGFs in tunicate development
Tunicate heart development
9. The genetics of axis specification in Drosophila
FGF signals and Drosophila mesoderm formation
Transport of Nanos and Bicoid messages to opposite ends of the fly oocyte
New model for gap protein stabilization
10. Early development and axis formation in amphibians
New models for organizer formation in Xenopus
New model for mesoderm specification in Xenopus
11. The early development of vertebrates: Fish, birds, and mammals
Maternal effect mutations in zebrafish
Neurulation in zebrafish
Retinoic acid in anterior posterior axis specification in chordates
Ciliary movements and left right axis specification in vertebrates
Role of Cerberus in chick head formation
Mesoderm specification and migration in chick gastrulae
FGF and cell fate in chick and mammalian epiblasts
Induction of pluripotency in mammalian inner cell mass blastomeres
Homeotic transformation in mammals due to total Hox paralog knockouts
Controversy over blastocyst polarity in mammals
Folate receptors and teratogens affecting neurulation

III. Later Embryonic Development
12. The emergence of the ectoderm: Central nervous system and epidermis
Genes specifying neural fate
Human-specific genes specifying brain growth
Progressive myelination of the human brain
Neural stem cells
Eye development and blind cave salamanders
Skin, hair, and pigment stem cells
13. Neural crest cells and axonal specificity
Neural crest cell specification and migrations
Head vs. trunk neural crest specification
Neural crest-endoderm interactions forming facial structures
Placode specification and separation
Tooth development and evolution
Semaphorins, Robo, and ephrins in neural patterning
14. Paraxial and intermediate mesoderm
Specification of paraxial and intermediate mesoderm
Epithelialization of somites
The syndetome where tendons arise
FGFs, Notch, and Wnt in somite specification and separation
The primaxial and abaxial musculature
New sources of muscle precursor cells
Pathways of skeleton formation
Regulating ureteric bud branching
Wnt and FGF proteins regulating nephron formation
15. Lateral plate mesoderm and endoderm
Cloaca formation
Heart cell specification
Tbx genes, retinoic acid and heart chamber formation
Heart valve development
Hematopoietic stem cells and their derivatives
Lymphatic development
Induction of arteries by neurons
Placenta as source of blood stem cells
Adult blood stem cell niches
Endoderm specificity
Pancreas vs. liver development
Fate mapping pancreatic cells
16. Development of the tetrapod limb
Hox code of limb development
Specification of the digits by hedgehog proteins and HoxD genes
Controversy over digit identities in dinosaurs and birds
Getting limbs from fins
17. Sex determination
Timing and gene expression in mammalian sex determination
Brain sex determination pathways in vertebrates and flies
Hormone disruptors and sex determination problems
Dosage compensation and sex determination
Temperature-dependent sex determination in turtles
18. Metamorphosis, regeneration, and aging
Molecular mechanisms of amphibian metamorphosis
Ecdysone receptors and the response to molting hormone
Compartment formation in the wing imaginal disc
Why can't we regenerate our limbs?
Neuron- and mesenchyme-dependent stages of limb regeneration
Specification of limb regions by transcription factors during regeneration
Mitochondrial control of aging
Insulin pathway control of aging and possible relation to oxygen radicals
Ageless animals and environmental control of aging
19. The saga of the germ line
Genetic specification of germ-line cells in Drosophila and vertebrates
Components of the Drosophila germ plasm
Egg and sperm stem cell niches in Drosophila
Migration of primordial germ cells in mammals, chicks, and flies
Determination of meiosis and mitosis in C. elegans
Retaining mammalian spermatic stem cells

IV. Ramifications of Developmental Biology
20. An overview of plant development
Gamete formation and pollen tube guidance
Maternal effects and embryo development
Radial and axial patterning
New model for auxin specification of polarity
Roles of microRNAs in plant development
Dorsal ventral leaf patterning
Long-distance RNA transport and flowering
Floral meristem specification
21. Medical implications of developmental biology
Mechanisms of alcohol teratogenesis
Effects of endocrine disruptors on human development
Nutritional effects of gene methylation and disease susceptibility
Cancer as a disease of development
Cancer stem cell hypothesis
Developmental approaches to cancer therapy
Stem cell therapeutics
Regenerating human limbs and neurons
22. Environmental regulation of animal development
Molecular bases for environmental regulation of gene expression
Importance of symbionts in mammalian gut and immune system development
Signaling from fetal mammalian lung to initiate labor
The role of nutrition in the development of the dung beetle
Predator-induced polyphenism and toxicity testing
Genetic assimilation of environmentally induced traits
23. Developmental mechanisms of evolutionary change
Developmental modularity and evolution (stickleback studies)
Evolution by heterochrony, heterotopy, heterometry, heterotypy
BMPs and Darwin's finches
Origin of neural crest cells and the origin of jaws
The search for the Urbilaterian ancestor