Open Questions in Developmental Biology

Igor Adameyko is Professor and a Department Chair at the Center for Brain Research of the Medical University of Vienna and a group leader at Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm. Prof. Adameyko is known for the discovery of the multipotency of nerve-associated Schwann cell precursors, a population of neuralcrest-derived cells with exceptional plasticity and distribution in the body. His studies introduced a radically new concept for developmental biology in that it defined precursor pools existing in a highly specialized niche that use nerves as conduits to migrate and differentiate through temporally and spatially delineated nerve–Schwann cell communication.Gerhard Schlosser is Lecturer Above The Bar in the Department of Zoology at the National University of Ireland in Galway. He has received two PhDs – the first in Philosophy from the Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiberg and the second in Biology from the University of Bremen. After two postdocs – one at theUniversity of Bremen and another at the University of California in San Diego – he joined the faculty at the National University of Ireland. He’s the author or co-author of dozens of peer-reviewed journal articles.

• SECTION I The Developing Organism as a Complex System Chapter 1 In the Tinkerer’s Workshop: Structures, Functions and the Decomposition of Development Chapter 2 Biophysical Intelligence Between Genotype and Phenotype: The Agential Material of Life From EvoDevo to Regenerative Medicine SECTION II Computational Approaches to Development Chapter 3 New Approaches to an Old Problem: The Enigma of Cells Making Decisions Chapter 4 The Nodes and Edges of Developmental Gene Regulation SECTION III The Cell as the Unit of Development Chapter 5 Nothing in EvoDevo Makes Sense Except in the Light of Cell Biology Chapter 6 Developmental Biology at the Crossroads: Classical Puzzles and Future Directions SECTION IV Shedding New Light on Old Problems Chapter 7 Playing the Game of Regeneration Chapter 8 Reassessing Chordate Evolution: Did Tunicates Originate From a Vertebrate Ancestor?