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Dev Bio Syllabus

This document provides information about the BIOL-373 Developmental Biology course offered at Georgetown University. The course will introduce fundamental mechanisms of embryonic development, including fertilization, gastrulation, cell fate determination, and axis formation. It will be taught through a combination of lectures and group discussions. The course meets on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays from 2-2:50pm in Reiss 262. Students will be assessed through two midterms, a final exam, a group project, and class participation. The goal is for students to understand principles of development and communicate scientific concepts effectively.

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Paige McMahon
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44 views

Dev Bio Syllabus

This document provides information about the BIOL-373 Developmental Biology course offered at Georgetown University. The course will introduce fundamental mechanisms of embryonic development, including fertilization, gastrulation, cell fate determination, and axis formation. It will be taught through a combination of lectures and group discussions. The course meets on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays from 2-2:50pm in Reiss 262. Students will be assessed through two midterms, a final exam, a group project, and class participation. The goal is for students to understand principles of development and communicate scientific concepts effectively.

Uploaded by

Paige McMahon
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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BIOL-373 Developmental Biology

Course Description
“Where do babies come from?" The real answer is much more interesting than the usual
parental response involving a white stork. This course will introduce fundamental
mechanisms in embryonic development including the processes of fertilization,
gastrulation, cell fate determination, and axis formation. In class, we will discuss
classical experiments and recent breakthroughs that have advanced the field of
developmental biology. Unlike traditional lecture-based courses, the class time of this
course will serve as a platform for group discussions interspersed with short lectures.

Lecture Time and Location


MWF 2-2:50pm in Reiss 262

Instructors
Professor Cynthia Anderson
[email protected]
Office: Regents Hall 341
Office Hours: Tuesday 1-3pm

Professor Kaitlyn Choi


[email protected]
Office: Regents Hall 375
Office Hours: Friday 9-11am

Textbook
Scott F. Gilbert
Developmental Biology (10th edition)
Publisher: Sinauer Associates. ISBN# 978-0-87893-978-7

The textbook above is recommended, not required. The 6 th edition of this textbook is
available online for free (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK9983/). When it is
possible, supplemental reading materials will be provided to help students better grasp
the course material.

Prerequisites
Foundations in Biology I and Genetics

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Course Website
https://georgetown.instructure.com/courses/30411

Learning Objectives
Upon successful completion of this course, students should be able to:
1. Relate and apply the fundamental principles of embryonic development covered in
this course to newly observed biological phenomena
2. Read and evaluate peer-reviewed research articles
3. Demonstrate the ability to communicate scientific information effectively
3. Design experiments to test their own hypotheses.

Attendance Policy
You are expected to attend all lectures unless you are extremely ill or have some other
emergency. We are going to teach this class in a way that will often demand your
presence during our time together. At times throughout the course, we will be lecturing.
However, there will also be group learning activities and other ways that we will try to
engage you to help you learn the material most effectively during class and hopefully,
we’ll all have a lot of fun in the process. Contact the instructors if you have questions or
problems of any kind.

Grading
● Your grade will be determined as follows:
Two midterms (higher score: 20%; lower score: 15%) 35%
Final exam 25%
Journal club and class participation 20%
Group project 20%

● Grades will be made available on Canvas (so you can see what you earned and
how you stood relative to the class as a whole).
● Performance in the course as a whole will be considered in the generation of
your final grade. The performance of students who show steady improvement
throughout the course of the semester will be looked at favorably as it pertains to
both absolute grade assignment and decisions at grade boundaries.

Assessments
● Exams:
Midterms and final exam are open book exams. You are allowed to bring your
study materials including your laptop, textbook and notebook. No Internet
connection is allowed during the exam.

● Group project: “What is so special about the development of your favorite

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organ?”
As a group, choose an organ and study how it develops. Then, identify a unique
aspect of its development—it could be a specific signaling pathway, a protein, an
interaction between pathways or a unique morphogenesis process. In your 15-
min-long presentation, provide a brief overview of the development of the organ
and describe in detail the interesting aspect of its development. The goal of this
group project is to distill the important information from the primary literature and
weave a compelling and engaging story with it. Avoid simply listing facts.
Convince the audience that your favorite organ develops in a very interesting
way! The grading rubric will be posted on the course website.

● There will be no make-up assessments.


If you have are unable to attend class to take the exam due to prior engagement,
you must contact the instructors beforehand with appropriate paperwork to re-
schedule an earlier exam date. If you are unable to take the exam due to
sudden illness, appropriate paperwork will be required (a note from your doctor,
Student Health Services, or from the Dean).

Honor System Policy


Georgetown's Honor System outlines the Standards of Conduct you are expected to
uphold as a member of the Georgetown Community. Academic dishonesty is strictly
prohibited at Georgetown. For this course, in addition to those standards listed in the
Bulletin, the following will also apply:
● For more details about the University Honor System, please refer to the following
source: https://honorcouncil.georgetown.edu/system/policies You are expected
to be conversant with all the details contained here.

Anyone caught cheating on exams or class work will be reported to the Honor
Council.

Schedule

Lecture # Date Topic


1 W 11-Jan First Day of Class – Introduction – Model Systems
2 F 13-Jan Developmental Potential
M 16-Jan Holiday: Martin Luther King Day
3 W 18-Jan Fertilization
19-Jan (Add/Drop Ends)
F 20-Jan Holiday: Inauguration Day
Preimplantation
M 23-Jan
4 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3274
3
351/
5 W 25-Jan Implantation – placenta
F 27-Jan Journal Club 1
6 M 30-Jan Embryonic Stem Cells #1
7 W 1-Feb Embryonic Stem Cells #2
F 3-Feb Journal Club 2
8 M 6-Feb Differential Gene Expression and Fate Mapping
9 W 8-Feb Techniques in Developmental Biology
F 10-Feb Journal Club 3
10 M 13-Feb Gastrulation
W 15-Feb Catch-Up Day
F 17-Feb Midterm #1
M 20-Feb Holiday: President’s Day
11 W 22-Feb Cell Fate Determination #1
12 F 24-Feb Cell Fate Determination #2
13 M 27-Feb Epigenetic Modification
W 1-Mar Journal Club 4
14 F 3-Mar Imprinting and X Chromosome Inactivation
M 6-Mar
W 8-Mar Spring Break
F 10-Mar
15 M 13-Mar Reprogramming
W 15-Mar Journal Club 5
16 F 17-Mar Neurulation and Neural Crest Cells
17 M 20-Mar A-P axis & D-V axis (Last day to withdraw)
W 22-Mar Catch-up Day
F 24-Mar Midterm #2
M 27-Mar Journal Club 6
18 W 29-Mar Left-Right Asymmetry
19 F 31-Mar Limb Development
20 M 3-Apr Catch-Up Day/Guest Lecture
W 5-Apr Journal Club 7
21 F 7-Apr Organ Growth and Size Control
22 M 10-Apr Adult Stem Cells
W 12-Apr Journal Club 8
F 14-Apr
Easter Break
M 17-Apr
23 W 19-Apr Organoids and Disease Modeling
24 F 21-Apr Environmental Influences on Mammalian Development
M 24-Apr Journal Club 9
W 26-Apr Group Project
4
F 28-Apr Group Project
M 1-May Catch-up Day
F 12-May Final Exam 4:00-6:00pm (Cumulative)

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