The Neural Crest and Neural Crest Cells in Vertebrate Development and Evolution

A presentation of all aspects of neural crest cell origins (embryological and evolutionary) development and evolution; neural crest cell behavior (migration) and anomalies (neurocristopathies and birth defects) that arise from defective neural crest development. The treatment of development will include discussions of cellular, molecular and genetic aspects of the differentiation and morphogenesis of neural crest cells and structures derived from neural crest cells. The origins of the neural crest in embryology will be discussed using the recent information on the molecular basis of the specification of the neural crest. Also presented are the advances in our understanding of the evolution of jaws from studies on lampreys and of the neural crest from studies on ascidians and amphioxus.

Dr. Brian K. Hall has devoted much of his career to the study of the evolution and development of neural crest-derived skeletal tissues. He is a University Research Professor Emeritus at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Canada, a Visiting Distinguished Professor at Arizona State University in Tempe, a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, and a foreign fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.