Marco La Fortezza: Catalogue data in Spring Semester 2021

Name Dr. Marco La Fortezza
Address
Professur f. Evolutionsbiologie
ETH Zürich, CHN K 18
Universitätstrasse 16
8092 Zürich
SWITZERLAND
Telephone+41 44 633 84 02
E-mailmarco.lafortezza@env.ethz.ch
DepartmentEnvironmental Systems Science
RelationshipLecturer

NumberTitleECTSHoursLecturers
701-1480-00LEvolutionary Developmental Biology Restricted registration - show details
Number of participants limited to 24.
Waiting list will be deleted after 05.03.2021.
3 credits1SM. La Fortezza, G. Velicer
AbstractStudents will be introduced to fundamental concepts and current open questions in the field of evolutionary developmental biology (Evo-Devo) primarily through reading, analysing and jointly discussing key literature.
ObjectiveThe course aims to expose students to major conceptual themes of the Evo-Devo field through discussion of key papers and to active areas of current Evo-Devo research. At the end of the course, students should be able to present, think critically about and discuss key Evo-Devo concepts.
ContentEvolutionary developmental biology (Evo-Devo) is a multidisciplinary field that studies the interplay between developmental and evolutionary processes. Major questions include: How do developmental systems evolve and diversify? Do developmental programs influence their own future evolution, and how? How does ecology affect the evolution of developmental programs, and vice versa? Fascinating and experimentally challenging, Evo-Devo first empirically emerged from comparative embryology. However, in recent decades this discipline has grown considerably to interconnect with many other fields, from genetics to sociobiology to microbiology. The course will examine questions such as those above and touch on the ongoing inter-disciplinary integration of Evo-Devo, including its interface with ecology (“Eco-Evo-Devo”) and the integration of aggregative microbial developmental systems into the field.
LiteratureRelevant literature:

Müller, G. (2007). Evo–devo: extending the evolutionary synthesis. Nature Reviews Genetics 8, 943-949. https://dx.doi.org/10.1038/nrg2219

Abouheif, E., et al (2014). Eco-evo-devo: the time has come. Advances in experimental medicine and biology 781, 107-25. https://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-7347-9_6

Moczek, A et al (2015). The significance and scope of evolutionary developmental biology: a vision for the 21st century. Evolution & development 17, 198-219. https://dx.doi.org/10.1111/ede.12125

Gilbert, S. (2019). Evolutionary transitions revisited: Holobiont evo‐devo. Journal of Experimental Zoology Part B: Molecular and Developmental Evolution 12, 117762501877479 - 8. https://dx.doi.org/10.1002/jez.b.22903
Prerequisites / NoticeSignificant basic knowledge in especially evolutionary biology and developmental biology, and also cell biology and genetics, will be advantageous for readily understanding the course material.