Course requirements

PhD students enrolled in the Developmental Biology Program are required to take the following two courses:

JDB1025H, Developmental Biology, and
JDB1026Y, Seminars in Developmental Biology.

MSc students enrolled in the Developmental Biology Program are required to take the following course:

JDB1024Y Topics in Developmental Biology:

JDB 1025H, Developmental Biology

JDB 1025H, a Ph.D.-level graduate course, is an in depth study of the principles of developmental biology.   The course strives to uncover common principles that govern the development of different phyla, as well as highlighting the details that make species unique.
    

For 2010, the course will focus on the following topics: gastrulation, axis specification, the hox cluster, tube-specification & morphogenesis and germine development.   There will be three 2-hour classes focused on each of these topics.   The first will be a review of how different animals (and plants) achieve the same goal, the second will be an analysis of cutting edge research on the topic, and the third will be an examination of how these principles are exploited in other biological processes.  

With the exception of the first class, each class will be student-run.   For example, for the review class of axis specification, ~four students will each take ~25 min to describe in detail how the major axis are specified in ~four different phyla.   In the following class, ~four different students will present and analyze four cutting-edge papers that deals with axis-specification in the four different phyla discussed in the review class.   In the last class for this topic, ~four students will present primary paper that illustrates how the mechanisms employed in axis-specification are employed in other systems.   Thus, there will be ~four papers per class that every student must know in detail.

Finally, in the last two classes, each student will present a grant-style proposal, including background, rationale, proposed experiments, and anticipated outcomes based on one of the five topics covered in the course.   The entire class must critique the proposal and will mark the presenter accordingly.

JDB1025H Course Coordinator

Dr. Rudi Winklbauer
Department of Cell and Systems Biology
Ramsay Wright Zoology Building, RW 603
25 Harbord Street, Toronto M5S 3G5

phone: 416-978-4445 
email: r.winklbauer@utoronto,ca

Instructors

Dr. Gabrielle Boulianne
Hospital for Sick Children
Toronto Medical Discovery Tower
12th Floor, East Tower, 101 College St
Toronto, Ontario  M5G 1L7

phone: 416-813-8701 
email: gboul@sickkids.ca

Dr. Mei Zhen
Department of Molecular Genetics
Samuel Lunenfeld Research Institute, Mount Sinai Hospital
600 University Avenue, Room 880
Toronto, Ontario M5G1X5

phone: 416-586-4800 ext. 1592 
email: zhen@lunenfeld.ca

Dr. Helen McNeill
Department of Molecular Genetics
Samuel Lunenfeld Research Institute, Mount Sinai Hospital
600 University Avenue, Room 886
Toronto, Ontario M5G1X5

phone: 416-586-4800 ext: 8267
email: mcneill@lunenfeld.ca

Time and Place:

Classes will begin Thursday, January 12, 2012.

Classes will take place on Thursdays 10::00 am-12:00 pm at 25 Orde Street (TCP Building) in Room 6-1013 (6th floor).

Eligible Students:

Any Ph.D. student interested in developmental biology will be accepted to JDB1025H, provided that they understand that they are expected to do background reading on concepts or techniques in the assigned reading that are not clear to them.  No M.Sc. students or auditors will be permitted, no exceptions.

The class limit is 16 students, so register early

Mark Breakdown:

Class Participation:                   40.0%
Discussion Leadership:             30.0%
Grant Proposal:                        30.0%

Class Participation

We expect students to read assigned literature and participate in the student-lead discussion.   After each class, the instructors will evaluate each student's participation level and agree upon a mark accordingly.   The exception to this is the last two classes of research proposals, where everyone present provides a mark for each presenter.

After the sixth content lecture, the instructors will review each student's participation and contribution to the course. If students are not participating at the level we expect from graduate students, we will ask the student to withdraw from the course.

Discussion Leadership

There will be ~four students presenting in each class.   Please have your presentation on a data key in PC-format.   You are responsible for ensuring beforehand that your power-point presentation works on a Windows XP computer.   Technical delays or failure will be marked accordingly.

Each presenter is expected to:

1. Present an introduction to the central biological problem(s) of the topic of the day.

2. The presenter is highly encouraged to not only use the assigned literature, but to expand their knowledge of the subject matter through additional reading in order to explain the approaches to the problem and the major insights uncovered.   The discussion leader is also encouraged to meet with the guest expert to make sure and ensure that they (the student) understands the major issues of the relevant topic.   The leader must also address any pioneering techniques that facilitated insight.  

3. The discussion leader must engage the rest of the class and draw out interpretations and thoughts from other students.

The discussion leader is encouraged to use the black board to illustrate principles, and power point to show figures, but to please minimize text on power point slides.

Grant Proposal

In the final two classes, each student will present a grant-style proposal, including background, rationale, proposed experiments, and anticipated outcomes based on one of the five topics covered in the course.  

     The chosen research topic must not be directly related to the student's thesis project, nor can they propose using the same model system used in their thesis project.   The student must get approval of the topic from the course-coordinator, Dr. Rudi Winklbauer.

The presentation must provide the following:

1. Introduction to provide necessary background information.
2. Rationale for the project, providing an over-all goal to the study.
3. Details of the Specific Aims.   You must provide enough information to convince the audience that you are capable of doing the experiments and that they are well thought out.   You must also convince the audience that you anticipate certain results (one way or the other), that you can interpret the results, and that the experiments shed light on the overall goal.   This will be the body of the presentation.
4. Potential pitfalls.   Include some thoughts as to where you see potential trouble in your proposed experiments, but convince the audience that you have thought about it and have plans to navigate around the problems.
5. Brief summary that reminds the audience why this work is important.

This must be done in ~12-20 minutes, depending on the class size.

The entire class must critique the proposal and will mark the presenter accordingly.

JDB1025H  REGISTRATION INFORMATION:

Students interested in participating in JDB1025H must Register at ROSI. Please contact the Graduate Administrator of your department if you need assistance registering for the course on ROSI. 

Once you have completed registering for the course, please contact Rudi Winklbauer to inform him that you have registered for this course.

JDB1026Y, Seminars in Developmental Biology (PhD students)

For credit in JDB1026Y, students must participate in the program's annual retreat and monthly research meetings, and they must present two seminars OR one seminar plus one poster about their thesis research. Student seminars are generally scheduled during the program retreat.

Note: students must register in JDB1026Y each year until they have presented two research seminars OR one seminar and one poster presentation and received notification of their grade (two poster presentations are not acceptable).

JDB1024Y, Topics  in Developmental Biology (MSc students)

For credit in JDB1024Y, students must participate in the program's annual retreat and monthly research meetings, and they must present one poster about their thesis research.  

Note: students must register in JDB1024Y each year until they have presented one poster presentation and received notification of their grade.