Back to Embryology: Concepts and Techniques in Modern Developmental Biology

2026 Embryology Schedule

Download 2026 Embryology Schedule

Module 1:  Microscopy, Echinoderms, Tunicates and Other Basal Deuterostomes (May 30 - June 6)
5/30/26 (Sat)

Reception & Dinner, 7pm

2nd Floor Loeb (Rm #256)

Tatjana Piotrowski, (Stowers Institute); Athula Wikramanayake, (Univ. Miami), Welcome and Course overview. Bring your posters
5/31/26 (Sun)
Morning lecture
(9:00am-11:00am Speck)		Athula Wikramanayake, (Univ. Miami) and Nipam Patel (MBL). Intro to Developmental Biology and metazoan body plans
Afternoon lab (1PM)

Marine Resource Center tour and tour of Loeb. (1-3PM)

Jon Henry, (MBL), Margherita Perillo (MBL), Athula Wikramanayake (UMiami), Tool making & microinjection (use echinoderms to practice microinjections) (3-6PM)

Evening lab (7:30PM)Continue tool making & microinjection
6/1/26 (Mon)
Morning lecture
(9:00am-11:00am Speck)		Lisa Cameron, (Duke U.), Paula Montero Llopis (Harvard), Praju Vikas Anekal (Harvard). Light and confocal microscopy
Afternoon lab (1pm)Lisa Cameron, (Duke U.), Paula Montero Llopis (Harvard), Praju Vikas Anekal (Harvard). Light and confocal microscopy
Evening lab (7:30pm)Lisa Cameron, (Duke U.), Paula Montero Llopis (Harvard), Praju Vikas Anekal (Harvard). Light and confocal microscopy
6/2/26 (Tue)
Morning lecture
(9:00am-11:00am Speck)

Athula Wikramanayake, (Univ. Miami), Introduction to echinoderms and early patterning

Vanessa Barone (Hopkins Marine Station, Stanford University), Introduction to sea stars and early patterning

Afternoon & evening labsEchinoderms
6/3/26 (Wed)
Morning lecture
(9:00am-11:00am Speck)		Mansi Srivastava, (Harvard), Acoel development & regeneration
Afternoon & evening labsAcoels, Echinoderms
6/4/26 (Thu)
Morning lecture
(9:00am-11:00am Speck)

Alejandro Sanchez Alvarado, (Stowers Institute), “Dissecting the biological complexity of animal regeneration”and

“Understanding the sources of regenerative capacities in animals”

Afternoon & evening labsPlanaria, acoels, echinoderms
6/5/26 (Fri)
Morning lecture
(9:00am-11:00am Speck)

Margherita Perillo, (MBL), Sea stars and sea cucumbers as models for organogenesis

Greg Wray (Duke) Life (history) in the fast lane: evolution of rapid premetamorphic development in Heliocidaris sea urchins

Afternoon tours 
Evening lab		Planaria, Acoels, Echinoderms
1:30pm- 2:15pm, ToursGroup A: MRC
Group B: Library
2:15pm- 3pm, ToursGroup A: Library
Group B: MRC
6/6/26 (Sat)
Location TBDStudent Symposium
Afternoon & evening labsPlanaria, acoels, echinoderms
6/7/26 (Sun)
7:00pmScavenger hunt and course dinner
Things to do this week: T-shirt design for class, softball t-shirt, parade committee
Module 2:  Nematodes, Tardigrades, Ascidians (June 8-13)
6/8/26 (Mon)
Morning lecture
(9:00am-11:00am Speck)		Dave Sherwood, (Duke), An introduction to C. elegans, and Basement membranes-a dynamic and adaptive scaffolding
Afternoon & evening labsC. elegans
6/9/26 (Tue)
Morning lectures
(9:00am-11:00am Speck)

Dan Dickinson (UT Austin), Establishing and remodeling cell polarity

Geraldine Seydoux, (Johns Hopkins/ HHMI), Germ granules: form and function of biomolecular condensates

Afternoon labC. elegans
6/10/26 (Wed)
Morning lecture
(9:00am-11:00am Speck)

Bob Zeller, (San Diego State Univ.), Introduction to ascidian development - sea squirts made easy;

Ed Munro, (Univ. Chicago), Dynamics of morphogenesis in ascidians

Afternoon & evening labsAscidians, C. elegans
6/11/26 (Thu)
Morning lecture
(9:00am-11:00am Speck)		Emma Farley (UCSD). Gene Regulatory Networks.
Afternoon & evening labAscidians, C. elegans
6/12/26 (Fri)
Morning lecture
(9:00am-11:00am Speck)

Bob Goldstein, (UNC Chapel Hill), Tardigrades!

Ed Munro (Univ Chicago) Dynamics of morphogenesis in ascidians

Afternoon & evening labs,Ascidians, C. elegans, tardigrades
6/13/26 (Sat)
Morning lecture
(9:00am-11:00am Speck)		Benito-Gutierrez, Elia. (Genentech), Amphioxus: The Thrilling Prologue to Vertebrate Development and Evolution; and Modularity and Heterochrony in Amphioxus: Shaping New Neural Territories in Chordate Evolution
Afternoon & evening labsAscidians, C. elegans, tardigrades
Class presentations (9pm)Show ‘n Tell 1; lab clean up
6/14/26 (Sun)
Free time
Module 3: Hans Laufer Arthropod module; Arthropods, Nematostella, Spiralians (June 15-20)
6/15/26 (Mon)
Morning lecture
(9:00am-11:00am Speck)		Nipam Patel, (Univ. Chicago/MBL), Embryonic patterning of Drosophila and other arthropods
Afternoon & evening labsArthropods. Drosophila embryogenesis.
6/16/26 (Tue)
Morning lecture
(9:00am-11:00am Speck)		Melanie Worley, (UVA) Development and regeneration of imaginal discs in Drosophila
Afternoon & evening labsArthropods.
6/17/26 (Wed)
Morning lecture
(9:00am-11:00am Speck)

Todd Nystul (UCSF). The Drosophila Ovary as a Model of Stem Cell Biology Within the Native in vivo Context

David Stern (Stowers Institute), How Aphids Remote-Control Plants: Aphid effector proteins in plant gall induction

Afternoon & evening labsArthropods
6/18/26 (Thu)
Morning lecture
(9:00am-11:00am Speck)		Matt Gibson (Stowers Institute), Development of the Starlet Sea Anemone, Nematostella vectensis
Afternoon & evening labsNematostella, Arthropods
6/19/26 (Fri)
Morning lecture
(9:00am-11:00am Speck)		Dede Lyons, (Scripps Institution of Oceanography), Developmental Origins of Novelty in Molluscan Body-Plans.
Afternoon & evening labsSpiralians, Arthropods, Nematostella.
6/20/26 (Sat)
Morning lecture
(9:00am-11:00am Speck)

John Rubin (documentary filmmaker, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0999530/). HHMI Tangled Bank.

Viki Merrick (Atlantic Public Media), Ari Daniel Shapiro (NPR). How to communicate science.

Afternoon & evening labsSpiralians, Arthropods, Nematostella.
6/21/26 (Sun)
Free time
Module 4:  Fish and Frogs (June 22 - June 27) (Please note that there will be morning and evening labs, and afternoon lectures this week)
6/22/26 (Mon)
Morning lab (8:30am)Zebrafish orientation and Zebrafish injections
Afternoon lecture
(1:00-3:00pm, Speck)		Tatjana Piotrowski, (Stowers Institute), Zebrafish intro; sensory lateral line development and regeneration
Evening lab (7:30-8:30pm)Zebrafish/ frog lab intro 
6/23/26 (Tue)
Morning lab (9 am)Zebrafish, Frogs
Afternoon lecture
(1:00-3:00pm, Speck)		John Wallingford (Univ. of Texas, Austin), Beatings will continue: specification, differentiation, and evolution of ciliated cells.
Evening labZebrafish, Frogs
6/24/26 (Wed)
Morning lab (9 am)Zebrafish, Frogs
Afternoon Lecture
(1:00-3:00pm, Speck)		Marina Venero-Galanternik (University of Utah). Zebrafish meningeal development
Evening labFrogs, Zebrafish
6/25/26 (Thu)
Morning lab (9 am)Frogs, Zebrafish
Afternoon lecture
(1:00-3:00pm, Speck)

Andrea Wills, (Univ. Washington), Regeneration and metabolism in Xenopus

Shinuo Weng (Johns Hopkins University), May the Force Be with Frogs: From the Bottom Up

Evening labFrogs, Zebrafish
6/26/26 (Fri)
Morning lab (9 am)
10:30am

Zebrafish, Frogs

Facility tour with John Henry. Meet in G10 in basement of Loeb.

Afternoon lecture
(1:00-3:00pm, Speck)

Jamie Gagnon (University of Utah). A CRISPR wrinkle in time

Andrew Gillis, (MBL) Skate development and evolution of the vertebrate skeleton

Evening labZebrafish, Frogs, Skates
06/27/26 (Sat)
Morning lab (9 am)Zebrafish, Frogs, Skates
11amFish room tour
Afternoon lecture 1:30pmDenise Montell (UCSB). Katsuma and Jean Dan lecture, RACing from Drosophila border cell migration to an enhanced cancer immunotherapy
Evening labZebrafish, Skates, Frogs
Class presentations 8pmShow ‘n Tell 2; lab clean up
06/28/26 (Sun)
Whale watching trip to Hyannis
Module 5:  Chicks and Mouse (June 29 – July 3)
6/29/26 (Mon)
Morning lecture
(9-11am, Speck)		Tatjana Sauka-Spengler, (Stowers Institute), Introduction to chick development
Afternoon & evening labsChick
6/30/26 (Tue)
Morning lecture
(9-11am, Speck)

Olivier Pourquie (Harvard and MGH), Laying down the body plan: lessons from the embryo, and

Deconstructing and reconstructing the human musculo-skeletal system in vitro with pluripotent stem cells.

Afternoon & evening labsChick, organoids
7/1/26 (Wed)
Morning lecture
(9-11am, Speck)		Peter Lwigale (Rice University), Neural crest cells in corneal development
Afternoon & evening labsChick, organoids
7/2/26 (Thu)

Morning lecture
(9-11am, Speck)

 

Yuchuan Miao (Johns Hopkins U.), Deciphering developmental patterning with stem cell-based embryo models
Afternoon & evening labsChick, organoids
7/3/26 (Fri)
Morning lecture
(9-11am, Speck)

Margarete Diaz Cuadros (Harvard University). Mechanisms regulating the speed of development across species

Joel Rothman (UCSB), Cryptic plasticity: direct reprogramming of cell fate and lifespan in a deterministic animal

Afternoon & evening labsChick, organoids
7/4/26 (Sat)
July 4th Parade
Free time, parade. softball game. Course BBQ next to white tent at 6pm and watch fireworks on beach.
7/5/26 (Sun)
free
Module 6: Cephalopods, Cnidarians, Ctenophores, Annelids (July 6- 8)
7/6/26 (Mon)
Morning lecture
(9-11am, Speck)		Carrie Albertin (MBL) Introduction to cephalopod development
Afternoon
  1. Cephalopods
evening labCephalopods, squid injections.
7/7/26 (Tue)
Morning lecture
(9-11am, Speck)

Bill Browne (Univ. Miami.), Introduction to ctenophore development

Brady Weissbourd (MIT) A genetically tractable jellyfish for systems and evolutionary neuroscience.   

Afternoon & evening labsCnidarians (cephalopods)
7/8/26 (Wed)

Morning lectures

(9-11am, Speck)

Ehab Abouheif (Zheijian University, China).  The journey from MBL to establishing a new field of eco-evo-devo medicine.
Class presentations, (8pm)Show ‘n Tell 3
7/9/26 (Thu)
Morning discussion (11am)Athula Wikramanayake, (Univ. Miami) and Tatjana Piotrowski (Stowers Institute)
AfternoonLab clean-up
Evening (7:30pm)Course banquet and award ceremony
7/10/26 (Fri)
Before 10:00amDeparture