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1. OVERVIEW OF DEVELOPMENTAL BIOLOGY

• Introduction to the processes involved in development

• Key questions that developmental biologists try to answer

• Introduction to commonly used experimental approaches

2. OVERVIEW OF TRANSCRIPTIONAL GENE REGULATION

• Cis vs. trans regulation

• Identification and characterization of core promoters, enhancers, silencers, boundary elements/insulators and locus control regions

3. BREAKING SYMMETRY

• Symmetrical vs. asymmetrical development

• Maternal effect genes

• Transition from maternal to zygotic gene expression

• Establishing the dorsal-ventral axis

• Establishing the anterior posterior axis

• Establishing the left-right axis

4. MORPHOGEN GRADIENTS

• Formation of a gradient

• Drosophila species segmentation genes (maternal effect, gap, pair rule and segment polarity)

• Transcription factor binding affinity

• Combinatorial control

5. BODY PLAN ORGANIZATION

• Introduction to homeotic genes

• Homeobox cluster duplications and evolution

• Apoptosis

6. REGULATION OF EXPRESSION BY NON-CODING RNA MOLECULES

• Isometric vs. allometric growth

• Introduction to heterochronic genes

• Identification of regulatory RNA molecules

• Formation and function of short non-coding RNA molecules (e.g. microRNAs, piRNAs and snoRNA)

• Formation and function of  long non-coding RNA molecules

7. CELL FATE PLASTICITY

• Introduction to cell fate specification

• Specified vs. determined cell fates

• Necessary vs. sufficient transcription factors  expression

• Maintenance of gene regulation through mitosis (e.g. polycomb and trithorax proteins)

8. SEX DETERMINATION AND DOSAGE COMPENSATION

• Genetic basis for sex determination

• Introduction of the concept of gene dosage

• Strategies for dosage maintenance

9. EPIGENETIC INHERITANCE AND IMPRINTING

• Introduction to epigenetics

• Introduction to genomic imprinting

• Role of DNA methylation in expression

• Environmentally induced epigenetic changes