Virtual meeting, real and sound science: report of the 17th Meeting of the Spanish Society for Developmental Biology (SEBD-2020).

The Spanish Society for Developmental Biology (SEBD) organized its 17th meeting in November 2020 (herein referred to as SEBD2020). This meeting, originally programmed to take place in the city of Bilbao, was forced onto an online format due to the SARS-CoV2, COVID-19 pandemic. Although, we missed the live personal interactions and missed out on the Bilbao social scene, we were able to meet online to present our work and discuss our latest results. An overview of the activities that took place around the meeting, the different scientific sessions and the speakers involved are presented here. The pros and cons of virtual meetings are discussed.

20 years of the "Practical Course in Developmental Biology" in Latin America: from Santiago to Quintay, via Juquehy, Buenos Aires and Montevideo.

There is growing demand for learning developmental biology in Latin America and a need for advanced students to interact with world leaders of this discipline. This article summarizes some of the efforts that Latin America is making to satisfy the demand in training young Latin American minds for the developmental biology of the future. I focus on a particular course that has been linked to the origins of the Latin America Society of Developmental Biology (LASDB). I describe the motivations to start organizing this course twenty years ago, its history and setbacks. We tracked back the current situation of former students to find out that more than 90% are still doing developmental biology all across the globe. I describe the state of affairs of the Course in its current location in the CIMARQ campus of the Universidad Andres Bello (UNAB), in a place called Quintay on the Chilean coast and I ask about its future.

The Neurosphere Simulator: An educational online tool for modeling neural stem cell behavior and tissue growth.

Until very recently, distance education, including digital science labs, served a rather small portion of postsecondary students in the United States and many other countries. This situation has, however, dramatically changed in 2020 in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, which forced colleges to rapidly transit from face-to-face instructions to online classes. Here, we report the development of an interactive simulator that is freely available on the web (http://neurosphere.cos.northeastern.edu/) for teaching lab classes in developmental biology. This simulator is based on cellular automata models of neural-stem-cell-driven tissue growth in the neurosphere assay. By modifying model parameters, users can explore the role in tissue growth of several developmental mechanisms, such as regulation of mitosis or apoptotic cell death by contact inhibition. Besides providing an instantaneous animation of the simulated development of neurospheres, the Neurosphere Simulator tool offers also the possibility to download data for detailed analysis. The simulator function is complemented by a tutorial that introduces students to computational modeling of developmental processes.

Counteracting Environmental Chemicals with Coenzyme Q10: An Educational Primer for Use with "Antioxidant CoQ10 Restores Fertility by Rescuing Bisphenol A-Induced Oxidative DNA Damage in the Caenorhabditis elegans Germline".

Environmental toxicants are chemicals that negatively affect human health. Although there are numerous ways to limit exposure, the ubiquitous nature of certain environmental toxicants makes it impossible to avoid them entirely. Consequently, scientists are continuously working toward developing strategies for combating their harmful effects. Using the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans, a model with many genetic and physiological similarities to humans, researchers in the Colaiácovo laboratory have identified several molecular mechanisms by which the toxic agent bisphenol A (BPA) interferes with reproduction. Here, we address their recent discovery that a widely available compound, Coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10), can rescue BPA-induced damage. This work is significant in that it poses a low-cost method for improving reproductive success in humans. The goal of this primer is to assist educators and students with navigating the paper entitled "Antioxidant CoQ10 Restores Fertility by Rescuing Bisphenol A-Induced Oxidative DNA Damage in the Caenorhabditis elegans Germline." It is ideally suited for integration into an upper-level undergraduate course such as Genetics, Cell and Molecular Biology, Developmental Biology, or Toxicology. The primer provides background information on the history of BPA, the utility of the C. elegans germ line as a model for studying reproductive toxicity, and research methods including assessment of programmed cell death, fluorescent microscopy applications, and assays to quantify gene expression. Questions for deeper exploration in-class or online are provided.Related article in GENETICS: Hornos Carneiro MF, Shin N, Karthikraj R, Barbosa F Jr, Kannan K, Colaiácovo MP. Antioxidant CoQ10 restores fertility by rescuing bisphenol A-induced oxidative DNA damage in the Caenorhabditis elegans Germline. Genetics 214:381-395.

The role of an expert discussion panel on shaping the views of the undergraduate in health sciences on the use of stem cells and pre-implantation embryos / La influencia de un panel de discusión de expertos en la formación de opinión sobre el uso de células madre y embriones preimplantacionales en los estudiantes de ciencias de la salud de pregrado

INTRODUCTION: There are four objectives to this paper: (1) To determine whether undergraduates enrolled in Health-Sciences studies agree with the use of human stem cells for medical research, treatment and genetic uses. (2) Whether they would consider the use of pre-implantation-embryos for medical research. (3) Whether attitudes toward the previous two issues are linked to gender, field of study, transcendental/spiritual convictions and political biases. (4) A panel of discussion will modify their opinion. RESULTS: The present study shows that, before attending a discussion panel session, media was the main source of information that the students had on the surveyed topics. A discussion panel was useful for clarifying respondents' opinions on the explored items. Significantly, the discussion panel had an influence on those respondents who did not have a formed opinion on the explored items. CONCLUSIONS: A discussion panel is a convenient, but limited tool, in the shaping of undergraduate opinions on ethically controversial scientific matters

INTRODUCCIÓN: Los objetivos de este artículo son conocer si: 1) los estudiantes de pregrado matriculados en titulaciones de grado de ciencias de la salud están de acuerdo con la utilización de las células madre humanas para la investigación médica de los embriones preimplantatorios, la cura de enfermedades y los usos génicos; 2) consideran el uso de los embriones preimplantatorios humanos para la investigación; 3) las actitudes hacia los 2 temas anteriores están relacionadas con el género, el grado universitario en curso, la afiliación política y las convicciones trascendentales o espirituales, y 4) conocer si un panel de discusión, con expertos, modifica esas opiniones. RESULTADOS: Los resultados del presente estudio mostraron que antes del panel de discusión, los medios de comunicación eran la principal fuente de información de los encuestados sobre los temas estudiados. El panel de discusión fue útil para aclarar las opiniones de los encuestados, aprobar o desaprobar los ítems explorados. Significativamente, el panel de discusión influyó en los encuestados que dijeron que no tenían una opinión formada sobre los ítems explorados antes del panel de discusión. CONCLUSIONES: El panel de discusión es una herramienta conveniente pero limitada en la formación de las opiniones de los estudiantes de pregrado en titulaciones de ciencias de la salud sobre cuestiones científicas éticamente controvertidas

Leela Mulherkar and the teaching of developmental biology.

The formal teaching of developmental biology in India began in the late nineteen-fifties at the Department of Zoology of the University of Poona. This was due to the efforts of Leela Mulherkar, who on her return from C.H. Waddington's laboratory in Edinburgh, took up the teaching of embryology at the Master's level. Mulherkar began using locally available material to teach how animals develop. They included the embryos of chicken, frog, garden lizard and molluscs, as well as organisms such as hydra and sponges. Her teaching was supported by an active research laboratory that used all these systems to address a variety of questions in embryology and teratology. She used chick embryo explants cultured in vitro extensively in her work. Teaching and research in embryology at the master's and doctoral levels at Poona University subsequently led, in 1977, to the establishment of the Indian Society of Developmental Biologists (InSDB), which is among the most active scientific societies in India.

Ernst Haeckel's contribution to Evo-Devo and scientific debate: a re-evaluation of Haeckel's controversial illustrations in US textbooks in response to creationist accusations.

As Blackwell (Am Biol Teach 69:135-136, 2007) pointed out, multiple authors have attempted to discredit Haeckel, stating that modern embryological studies have shown that Haeckel's drawings are stylized or embellished. More importantly, though, it has been shown that the discussion within the scientific community concerning Haeckel's drawings and the question of whether embryonic similarities are convergent or conserved have been extrapolated outside the science community in an attempt to discredit Darwin and evolutionary theory in general (Behe in Science 281:347-351, 1998; Blackwell in Am Biol Teach 69:135-136, 2007; Pickett et al. in Am Biol Teach 67:275, 2005; Wells in Am Biol Teach 61:345-349, 1999; Icons of evolution: science or myth? Why much of what we teach about evolution is wrong. Regnery Publishing, Washington, 2002). In this paper, we address the controversy surrounding Haeckel and his work in order to clarify the line between the shortcomings and the benefits of his research and illustrations. Specifically, we show that while his illustrations were not perfect anatomical representations, they were useful educational visualizations and did serve an important role in furthering studies in embryology.

The people behind the papers - Sungwook Choi.

The control of timing in development is crucial, both within and between tissues. Heterochrony involves shifts in the rate of development of some tissues relative to others, and although the first heterochronic genes were identified in Caenorhabditis elegans in the early 1980s, their role in inter-tissue developmental coordination is still not completely understood. A new paper in Development tackles this problem with an analysis of the role of lin-28, a key heterochronic gene, in worm fertility. We caught up with Sungwook Choi, first author and recently graduated PhD student in Victor Ambros' lab at the University of Massachusetts Medical School in Worcester, to find out more.

Exploration of an interactive "Virtual and Actual Combined" teaching mode in medical developmental biology.

Biochemistry and molecular techniques are used for the development of the scientific practice of students. To improve both the teaching and learning quality and promote the students' motivation, this article outlines an interactive "Virtual Simulation and Actual Operation Combined" approach by using a tailored virtual practice-learning platform and participated by students and lectures, as well as a curriculum secretary. The implementation of the Virtual Simulation Laboratory provides a series of learning resources, which the students can access in their own time; and the participation of the curriculum secretary also makes the class more interactive and efficient. This method incorporates an experimental platform and a virtual experiment class to utilize fully both the traditional and virtual teaching methods and thereby promote effective student learning. © 2018 International Union of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, 46(6):585-591, 2018.

Ground, Path, and Fruition: Teaching Zebrafish Development to Tibetan Buddhist Monks in India.

In June 2018, I traveled to India to teach in a Tibetan Buddhist monastery under the auspices of the Emory-Tibet Science Initiative (ETSI), a program that brings aspects of science education to the three major Tibetan monastic universities in exile. My role was to teach developmental biology to the monks over a 9-day period, and I found zebrafish development to be an excellent vehicle for introducing them to both the wonder of embryonic development and to some of the most advanced findings in the field of developmental biology. I describe here my experiences, observations, and thoughts about how the monastic system will need to change if the monks are really to develop the ability to think like scientists.

eHistology image and annotation data from the Kaufman Atlas of Mouse Development.

"The Atlas of Mouse Development" by Kaufman is a classic paper atlas that is the de facto standard for the definition of mouse embryo anatomy in the context of standard histological images. We have redigitized the original haematoxylin and eosin-stained tissue sections used for the book at high resolution and transferred the hand-drawn annotations to digital form. We have augmented the annotations with standard ontological assignments (EMAPA anatomy) and made the data freely available via an online viewer (eHistology) and from the University of Edinburgh DataShare archive. The dataset captures and preserves the definitive anatomical knowledge of the original atlas, provides a core image set for deeper community annotation and teaching, and delivers a unique high-quality set of high-resolution histological images through mammalian development for manual and automated analysis.

Developmental biology, the stem cell of biological disciplines.

Developmental biology (including embryology) is proposed as "the stem cell of biological disciplines." Genetics, cell biology, oncology, immunology, evolutionary mechanisms, neurobiology, and systems biology each has its ancestry in developmental biology. Moreover, developmental biology continues to roll on, budding off more disciplines, while retaining its own identity. While its descendant disciplines differentiate into sciences with a restricted set of paradigms, examples, and techniques, developmental biology remains vigorous, pluripotent, and relatively undifferentiated. In many disciplines, especially in evolutionary biology and oncology, the developmental perspective is being reasserted as an important research program.

Cell migration analysis: A low-cost laboratory experiment for cell and developmental biology courses using keratocytes from fish scales.

Cell and developmental processes are complex, and profoundly dependent on spatial relationships that change over time. Innovative educational or teaching strategies are always needed to foster deep comprehension of these processes and their dynamic features. However, laboratory exercises in cell and developmental biology at the undergraduate level do not often take into account the time dimension. In this article, we provide a laboratory exercise focused in cell migration, aiming to stimulate thinking in time and space dimensions through a simplification of more complex processes occurring in cell or developmental biology. The use of open-source tools for the analysis, as well as the whole package of raw results (available at http://github.com/danielprieto/keratocyte) make it suitable for its implementation in courses with very diverse budgets. Aiming to facilitate the student's transition from science-students to science-practitioners we propose an exercise of scientific thinking, and an evaluation method. This in turn is communicated here to facilitate the finding of common caveats and weaknesses in the process of producing simple scientific communications describing the results achieved. © 2017 by The International Union of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, 45(6):475-482, 2017.

A global community effort to decipher the unique biology of annual killifish.

Over the past 50 years, annual killifishes arose as alternative model organisms for studies of vertebrate biology. The annual fish offers exceptional advantages for studies of genetics, genomics, developmental biology, population dynamics, ecology, biogeography, and evolution. They inhabit extremely variable freshwater environments in Africa and South America, have a short lifespan and a set of unique and fascinating developmental characteristics. Embryos survive within the dry substrate during the dry season, whereas the adult population dies. Thus, the survival of the populations is entirely dependent on the buried embryos that hatch the next rainy season. Although Old and New World species share similarities in their life cycle, they also have different adaptive responses associated with climate-related selective pressures. Therefore, contrasting different species from these areas is essential to understand unique adaptations to heterogeneous environment. A network of laboratories (United States, Czech Republic, Italy, Brazil, Chile, and Uruguay) is working and collaborating on many aspects of the biology of annual fishes. Participating researchers share projects and cross-training undergraduate and graduate students. These efforts resulted in two International Symposia (2010 and 2015) that took place in Montevideo and an international book. Herein, we summarize the progress made by this global community of scientists. Developmental Dynamics 246:807-811, 2017. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

The Node and beyond-using social media in cell and developmental biology.

Traditionally, strong scientific communities have been at least partly built around physical proximity - either by members of the same department or institute, or through regular meetings and conferences. The online environment and the rise of social media platforms now make it easier to build virtual communities of geographically dispersed people with a common interest. In this article, we explore how such networks can be nurtured, focussing on the Node - a community blog for and by developmental biologists. We also discuss the value of social media outlets like Twitter in building and maintaining scientific communities online.

The society for craniofacial genetics and developmental biology 39th annual meeting.

The Society for Craniofacial Genetics and Developmental Biology (SCGDB) aims to promote education, research, and communication, about normal and abnormal development of the tissues and organs of the head. Membership of the SCGDB is broad and diverse-including clinicians, orthodontists, scientists, and academics-but with all members sharing an interest in craniofacial biology. Each year, the SCGDB hosts a meeting where members can share their latest research, exchange ideas and resources, and build on or establish new collaborations. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Teaching Real Data Interpretation with Models (TRIM): Analysis of Student Dialogue in a Large-Enrollment Cell and Developmental Biology Course.

We present our design for a cell biology course to integrate content with scientific practices, specifically data interpretation and model-based reasoning. A 2-yr research project within this course allowed us to understand how students interpret authentic biological data in this setting. Through analysis of written work, we measured the extent to which students' data interpretations were valid and/or generative. By analyzing small-group audio recordings during in-class activities, we demonstrated how students used instructor-provided models to build and refine data interpretations. Often, students used models to broaden the scope of data interpretations, tying conclusions to a biological significance. Coding analysis revealed several strategies and challenges that were common among students in this collaborative setting. Spontaneous argumentation was present in 82% of transcripts, suggesting that data interpretation using models may be a way to elicit this important disciplinary practice. Argumentation dialogue included frequent co-construction of claims backed by evidence from data. Other common strategies included collaborative decoding of data representations and noticing data patterns before making interpretive claims. Focusing on irrelevant data patterns was the most common challenge. Our findings provide evidence to support the feasibility of supporting students' data-interpretation skills within a large lecture course.

The society for craniofacial genetics and developmental biology 38th annual meeting.

The mission of the Society for Craniofacial Genetics and Developmental Biology (SCGDB) is to promote education, research, and communication about normal and abnormal development of the tissues and organs of the head. The SCGDB welcomes as members undergraduate students, graduate students, post doctoral researchers, clinicians, orthodontists, scientists, and academicians who share an interest in craniofacial biology. Each year our members come together to share their novel findings, build upon, and challenge current knowledge of craniofacial biology. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.