Developmental Biology Protocols

Developmental biology is one of the most exciting and fast-growing fields today. In part, this is so because the subject matter deals with the innately fascinating biological events-changes in form, structure, and function of the org- ism. The other reason for much of the excitement in developmental biology is that the field has truly become the unifying melting pot of biology, and provides a framework that integrates anatomy, physiology, genetics, biochemistry, and cellular and mole- lar biology, as well as evolutionary biology. No longer is the study of embryonic development merely "embryology." In fact, development biology has produced - portant paradigms for both basic and clinical biomedical sciences alike. Although modern developmental biology has its roots in "experimental emb- ology" and the even more classical "chemical embryology," the recent explosive and remarkable advances in developmental biology are critically linked to the advent of the "cellular and molecular biology revolution." The impressive arsenal of expe- mental and analytical tools derived from cell and molecular biology, which promise to continue to expand, together with the exponentially developing sophistication in fu- tional imaging and information technologies, guarantee that the study of the devel- ing embryo will contribute one of the most captivating areas of biological research in the next millennium.

Developmental Biology Protocols. - Organogenesis. - Drosophila as a Genetic Tool to Define Vertebrate Pathway Players. - Bioassays for Studying the Role of the Peptide Growth Factor Activin in Early Amphibian Embryogenesis. - Analysis of Mammary Gland Morphogenesis. - Specification of Cardiac Mesenchyme and Heart Morphogenesis In Vitro. - Craniofacial Development and Patterning. - Craniofacial Skeletel Morphogenesis In Vitro. - Skeletal Morphogenesis. - Transplantation and Culture Techniques for the Analysis of Urodele Limb Regeneration. - Retroviral Infection of T-Cell Precursors in Thymic Organ Culture. - Assay for the Isolation of Hepatogenic Factors. - Skin Morphogenesis. - Apoptosis in Development. - Methods to Detect Patterns of Cell Death in Drosophila. - Abnormal Development and Teratology. - Mechanisms of Neurulation. - Neurulation and Neural Tube Closure Defects. - Neural Tube Defects. - Experimental Manipulation and Morphometric Analysis of Neural Tube Development. - Isolation of Neuroepithelium and Formation of Minispheres. - Examination of Normal and Abnormal Placentation in the Mouse. - Palatal Dysmorphogenesis. - Palatal Dysmorphogenesis. - Transspecies Grafting as a Tool to Understand the Basis of Murine Developmental Limb Abnormalities. - Assessment of Laterality Defects in Rodent Embryos. - Cardiac Morphogenesis and Dysmorphogenesis I. Normal Development. - Analysis of Two Aspects of Left-Right Patterning of the Vertebrate Heart. - Biologically Based Risk Assessment Models for Developmental Toxicity. - Screening and Mapping of Novel Genes and Mutations. - Positional Cloning. - Gene Trapping in Embryonic Stem Cells In Vitro to Identify Novel Developmentally Regulated Genes in the Mouse. - PCR-Based Cloning of Cortically Localized RNAs from Xenopus Oocytes. - Analysis of mRNA ExpressionDuring Preimplantation Development. - Differential Screens with Subtracted PCR-Generated cDNA Libraries from Subregions of Single Mouse Embryos. - HPLC-Based mRNA Differential Display. - Production of Transgenic Drosophila. - Transgenic Manipulation of the Sea Urchin Embryo. - Transgenic Zebrafish. - Production of Avian Chimeras and Germline Transmission. - Incorporation of Genetically Modified Cells in Chicken Chimeras. - Long-Term Culture of Chicken Blastodermal Cells (CBCs) and Selection of Transfected CBCs Using Antibiotic Resistance. - Nuclear Transplantation and Cloning in Mammals. - Production of Transgenic Mice. - Production of Transgenic Mice with Yeast Artificial Chromosomes. - Gene-Targeting Strategies. - Chimeric Animals and GermlineTransmission. - Conditional Gene Knockout Using Cre Recombinase. - Application of Cre/loxP in Drosophila.