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<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family:Calibri;color:black">Date: </span>
</b><span style="font-family:Calibri;color:black">Monday, August 28, 2017 at 9:16 AM<br>
<b>Subject: </b>Fwd: 7.342 Fall Seminar Course - How to Build an Animal<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal">Link to our Stellar site: <a href="https://learning-modules.mit.edu/class/index.html?uuid=/course/7/fa17/7.342#info">https://learning-modules.mit.edu/class/index.html?uuid=/course/7/fa17/7.342#info</a><o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size:11.0pt">7.342 How To Build An Animal: Cell Fate and Identity in Development and Disease</span></b><o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt">Instructors: Laura Blanton (</span><a href="mailto:lblanton@wi.mit.edu"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;color:#1155CC">lblanton@wi.mit.edu</span></a><span style="font-size:11.0pt">, 617-258-5174; laboratory
of David Page)</span><o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt"> Andrew Knutson (</span><a href="mailto:aknutson@wi.mit.edu"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;color:#1155CC">aknutson@wi.mit.edu</span></a><span style="font-size:11.0pt;color:#757575">,
</span><span style="font-size:11.0pt">617-258-5174; laboratory of David Page)</span><o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt">Fall 2017. Wednesdays, 11 am - 1 pm. (Class day and time are flexible.) Room 68-150.
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<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size:11.0pt">Course Description</span></b><o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in"><span style="font-size:11.0pt">Multicellular organisms develop from single cells that form as a result of fusion between two haploid gametes, e.g., sperm and egg. The fertilized egg, known as a zygote, undergoes
a series of dynamic developmental events to give rise to a multitude of cell types, such as neuronal cells in the brain and central nervous system and hematopoietic cells that generate the immune system. Understanding how these different cell types, each with
their own unique functions, are generated from the totipotent zygote is a major goal of research in the fields of developmental biology and biomedicine. Because most cells within a given organism contain the same genetic information regardless of differentiated
state, cell identity is manifested through a number of molecular mechanisms that influence cellular behavior and function without altering DNA sequence. In this course, we will explore how animals determine and maintain cell fate and discuss changes to DNA
structure and packaging, special proteins (known as “master regulators”) with the ability to alter cell fate via transcription, cell-cell signaling, and RNA localization. We will examine how researchers have defined cell identity and potency and analyze critical
papers describing the discovery and characterization of stem cells, which are undifferentiated cells able to give rise to multiple cell types. Additionally, we will examine the development and maintenance of numerous specialized cell types considering, for
example, evolutionarily conserved developmental pathways that lead to a germ cell (sperm or egg) identity as opposed to a somatic (non-germ) cell identity in a variety of animal species. We will discuss crucial somatic developmental pathways, including the
restriction of cell fate in differentiating hematopoietic lineages. We will conclude by examining how failure to maintain proper cell fate and identity can lead to disease and consider disorders of sexual development as well as a number of cancers.
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<p class="MsoNormal">Thank you so much!<o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal">Best, <o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal">Laura Blanton<o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal">-- <o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal">Laura V. Blanton, Ph.D.<br>
Laboratory of David Page<br>
Whitehead Institute<br>
455 Main Street <o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal">Cambridge, MA 02142<o:p></o:p></p>
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email: <a href="mailto:lblanton@wi.mit.edu">lblanton@wi.mit.edu</a><br>
lab phone: 617-258-5174<o:p></o:p></p>
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