Module BIOL2221: DEVELOPMENT 1

Department: BIOLOGICAL AND BIOMEDICAL SCIENCES

BIOL2221: DEVELOPMENT 1

Prerequisites

• Introduction to Molecular and Cell Biology (BIOL1072).

Corequisites

• None.

Excluded Combination of Modules

• None.

Aims

• To promote an appreciation of how animals and plants develop, with particular emphasis on how cellular complexity is established and how selected examples of differentiated cell types function subsequently.

Content

• Introduction to animal model systems in developmental biology (C.elegans, Drosophila, Xenopus, Chick, Mouse).
• Essential events in the development of these organisms.
• Examples of major research findings from the different models.
• The Cellular Basis of Morphogenesis.
• Cell movement, adhesion, patterning and the creation of structures.
• Cell fate and plasticity in animals: Stem cell theory, EC cells, Mesenchymal stem cells, Skin and other adult epithelial stem cells, Blood stem cells Model systems in plant developmental biology.
• Pattern formation, the establishment of polarity and positional information.
• Meristems, plasticity and the transition to flowering.
• Control of meristem identity.
• Homeotic genes.
• Control of organ identity and floral symmetry.
• Cell fate determination: Vascular tissues.
• Trichomes.
• Stomata.
• The nervous system.
• CNS development in higher animals How do peripheral nerves find their targets? Cell Communication in the CNS.
• The immune system.
• The cellular and molecular basis of antigen receptor diversity.
• Immunological specificity and memory.
• T cell-mediated and humoral immunity.

Learning Outcomes

• Appreciate events in the development of key animal models and be aware of their relative strengths and weaknesses as experimental systems.
• Have an understanding of how stem cells from embryonic and mature animals are identified, the functional significance of their behaviour, and how their activities are regulated.
• Have an intermediate-level knowledge of aspects of the molecular and cell biology of polarity determination, developmental plasticity, organogenesis and cell differentiation in model plant species.
• Be cognisant of aspects of cell diversity, connectivity and patterning in the central nervous system of higher animals and of the cellular and molecular basis of antigen receptor diversity, immunological specificity and memory and T cell-mediated and humoral immunity.

• Have experience in extracting, compiling and reviewing relevant scientific information from various sources and evaluating them critically.

Modes of Teaching, Learning and Assessment and how these contribute to the learning outcomes of the module

• Changed learning objectives will be met by changes to the lecture program to cover the revised emphasis in the immunology components.
• The revised content will be assessed summatively by unseen examination and may also be the basis of an unseen data handling test.

Teaching Methods and Learning Hours

Summative Assessment

Formative Assessment:

Poster preparation and display (group work).

■ Attendance at all activities marked with this symbol will be monitored. Students who fail to attend these activities, or to complete the summative or formative assessment specified above, will be subject to the procedures defined in the University's General Regulation V, and may be required to leave the University