DevBio Laboratory: Vade Mecum 3: An Interactive Guide to Developmental Biology

Designed to complement Gilbert's Developmental Biology, this unique resource helps your students to understand the organisms discussed in lecture and prepares them for the laboratory. Now in a new online format that allows students the flexibility to use the software from any computer with Internet access.Movie excerpts from Differential ExpressionsShort excerpts about key concepts in development from the eight movies in the DVD set Differential Expressions are included. These are of a length useful for inserting into lectures or student review.Integrated Teacher's and Student's ResourceAs a study aid for students and a resource for teachers for creating laboratory exams on embryonic chick material, PowerPoint® slides of chick whole mounts and serial sections are included.Full video instruction on Histological TechniquesVideos with voiceover show step-by-step procedures for fixing, embedding in paraffin, cutting sections on a rotary microtome, and mounting and staining sections.All slides and video in larger format.Over 140 interactive videos and 300 labeled photographs take the student through the life cycles of model organisms used in developmental biology laboratories. The easy-to-use videos provide students with the concepts, vocabulary, and motivation to enter the laboratory fully prepared. A chapter on zebrafish addresses how to raise the organism and the effects of various teratogens on embryonic development. The site also includes chapters on: the slime mold, Dictyostelium discoideum; planarian; sea urchin; the fruit fly, Drosophila melanogaster; chick; and amphibian.Laboratory Manual--The Third Edition of Mary S. Tyler's laboratory manual, Developmental Biology: A Guide for Experimental Study, designed for use with the multimedia chapters of DevBio Laboratory: Vade Mecum 3, is included and can be printed for classroom use. The manual contains challenging experiments requiring minimal equipment that are suitable for both large and small classes and provides extensive background information and instructions for experiments.Glossary--Every chapter of the Laboratory Manual includes an extensive glossary.Website--www.devbio.net augments DevBio Laboratory, allowing convenient access to recipes from the lab book, a searchable glossary, a module on Laboratory Safety, developmental staging series for the model organisms, interactive puzzles, and links to other Web resources.Study Questions--For assessment of students' understanding of the exercises (or for their self-examination), chapter quizzes that can be printed are included.Laboratory Skills Guides--DevBio Laboratory: Vade Mecum 3 includes several "purely techniques" chapters. One, on making the most of the microscope, includes a "virtual microscope" that teaches how to achieve Koehler illumination, dark-field illumination and how to use polarizing filters. Two other chapters illustrate, in a step-by-step manner, how to make microdissecting tools and how to do histological techniques for paraffin sections. Also included is a slide show on laboratory safety.

MARY S. TYLER Professor, Biological Sciences Department, University of Maine, USA. Among several awards, she received the University's Distinguished Maine Professor Award in 1981 and the Most Inspiring Professor of the Year Award from University of Maine Student Government in 1997. Her research interests are primarily in vertebrate embryonic development, studying organ development and tissue interactions using in vitro experimental techniques. RONALD N. KOZLOWSKI Research Associate, Biological Sciences Department, University of Maine, Orono, USA. He is a Board Member of Silva Borealis, a non-profit biology-based foundation in which he also serves as the Chief Technical Officer.