Content area
Full text
Classical embryology to molecular biology: a personal view of amphibian embryonic development 5
Perspectives
Classical embryology to molecular biology: a personal view of amphibian embryonic development
HORST GRUNZ
Universitt Duisburg Essen, Campus Essen, Fachbereich Biologie und Geogra e, Abt. Zoophysiologie Entwicklungsphysiologie, Universittsstr. 5, 45117 Essen, Germany
(Email, [email protected])
1. Introduction
Much information is available concerning the scientic activities of my laboratory and the establishment of Developmental Biology (including Molecular Developmental Biology) in Germany (see reviews in special issues of the International Journal of Developmental Biology [IJDB]; Developmental biology in Germany, 1996, Vol. 40; SpemannMangold organizer, 2001, IJDB Vol.45; Vertebrate organizer (ed.) H Grunz, 2004). Therefore, this article deals mainly with my personal background.
The famous Organisator (organizer) experiment of Hans Spemann and Hilde Mangold in 1924 led to Spemann being awarded the Nobel prize for Physiology and Medicine in 1935. Soon thereafter, the search for factors that might be responsible for the organization of body plan during early embryonic development resembled a gold rush. At the time, the ndings of Spemann and Mangold with relation to understanding early embryology were regarded as revolutionary. Spemanns school pioneered the use of specially designed micro instruments and sterile methods to dissect 1 mm-sized amphibian embryos under nearly sterile conditions. No antibiotics or sulphonamides were available. The microsurgery method attracted scientists from all over the world and several visited the Spemann laboratory in Freiburg. Most of those early techniques are still used today, at least in modied form, as a prerequisite for further studies at the molecular level. Heinz Tiedemann and I represent this tradition (see interview with Tiedemann; Grunz 1996, in IJDB Vol. 40 [1]).
2. School and study in Cologne
I grew up in Cologne, which is known for possessing the largest Gothic cathedral in the world (two towers of 157 m
each). Because of the extreme noise and vibration of the world largest swinging bell, one cannot enter the bell tower when the bell is in action. It is activated very seldom, for example on the night of New Year's eve. During my high school days I participated in a special course in hydrobiology. I was given the task of catching all small organisms in a pond and analysing them under the microscope. This helped...