Animal Development Group - Honours in 2009

An Honours project undertaken in this lab would be administered by the Discipline of Anatomy & Histology.

Biology of fertilisation and early development of embryos

Supervisor + contact details:

• Professor Maria Byrne

Research in the Animal Development lab involves comparison of game to genesis and development between closely related species that have contrasting patterns of embryogenesis. For this work we use several starfish and sea urchin species from which mature gametes are available at different times of the year. The main aim of our research is to determine the modifications in development exhibited by these animals and to elucidate the cellular mechanisms underlying these modifications. Documenting these phenomena is key to understanding the role that development change has played in evolutionary events such as the formation of new species. We also use these animals as a model to investigate the affects of environmental changes associated with climate change will have on marine invertebrates. Several Honours projects are available. To provide a few examples, these projects would involve research on the biology of fertilisation and early development of embryos cultured in the lab.