Programme (preliminary)

Sunday 29th

Arrival, evening lectures, Welcome dinner
Claus Nielsen: A guide through animal diversity
Max Telford: The New Animal Phylogeny
Detlev Arendt: Evolution of cell types in animals

Monday 30th
Tuesday 1st

Environmental genomics: Sampling
The participants will start an experiment in environmental sampling for microscopic, meiofaunal metazoans. Different samples (mud, sand etc. from different locations - fresh water, littoral, deep water) will be collected and DNA extracted. PCR amplification of small\large subunit rRNA and mitochondrial genes for DNA barcoding. Preparation of genomic DNA for 454 sequencing . 

Wednesday 2nd
Thursday 3rd
Friday 4th

Reverse genetics and transgenesis.
Microinjection techniques. Delivery of dsRNA/siRNA, morpholinos, or expression constructs into Tribolium, Parhyale, Achaearanea, Platynereis and sea urchin embryos. Students are encouraged to ransfer techniques to their organism of choice.
Transgenesis of Tribolium, Parhyale, Cupiennius, Platynereis, and sea urchin, using different transformation systems (piggyBac, Minos transposon systems).

Saturday/Sunday 5th/6th

Paleontological field trip

Monday 7th
Tuesday 8th
Wednesday 9th

In situ stainings using cross-reactive reagents:
In situ hybridization and immunolocalization techniques in Tribolium, Platynereis, Strongylocentrotus. Cross-reactive reagents wil be tried on embryos and larvae collected in the field and/or brought by the participants.

Thursday 10th

Environmental genomics: Bioinformatics
Bioinformatic methods will be used to organise the data and identify and quantify all unique sequences

Friday 11th

Phylogeny day
Sequence alignment and phylogeny inference tools
Party

Saturday 12th

Departure