Embryology Students Celebrate Final Show ‘N Tell, Course Completion

2024 Embryology students throw balls at each other after completing their final Show 'N Tell event.

2024 Embryology students hold a spirited foam ball fight in a conference room in Loeb Laboratory after finishing their final Show 'N Tell event on July 13. Credit: Alex Megerle

By Alex Megerle July 17, 2024

A celebratory foam ball fight culminated the final round of student presentations in the ǧ��Ƶ’s 2024 Embryology course late last Saturday night in Loeb Laboratory.

It was a well-deserved moment of release for the students, who had been immersed in six rigorous weeks of lectures and laboratory work covering a wide swath of concepts and techniques in developmental biology. The students worked with over 30 different research organisms, some of them traditional (such as fruit flies, sea urchins, chicks, frogs, zebrafish, worms and mice) but also many emerging research organisms, such as cephalopods, corals and jellyfish; learned cutting-edge analytical and experimental techniques; and trained with the most advanced imaging technologies.

2024 Embryology students gather in the lab. Credit: Tatjana Piotrowski

The course is split into six week-long modules, each of which focuses on different research organisms and features new lecturers. Each module, students tackle a fresh set of research questions, ultimately presenting their work at a Show ‘N Tell event held every two weeks.

Saturday was the students’ third and final Show ‘N Tell, and their slideshow presentations—full of stunning microscopy images and crowd-pleasing jokes—garnered plenty of oohs, aahs, and applause. Audience members also enjoyed drinks and popcorn.

The students’ research touched on everything from eye development in squid and neural crest migration in chicken embryos to cell division in the sea anemone and ctenophore regeneration. One group put together a playful analysis of the cohort’s favorite research organisms, based on criteria like embryo accessibility and availability of genetic tools (the famous roundworm Caenorhabditis elegans took home the top spot).

2024 Embryology course directors Tatjana Piotrowski (left) and Athula Wikramanayake toss toy balls to Embryology students. — 2024 Embryology course directors Tatjana Piotrowski (left) and Athula Wikramanayake toss toy balls to students ahead of the final Show 'N Tell presentations. Credit: Alex Megerle

Everyone was allotted only three minutes to speak, with a good-natured consequence for being long-winded; if time ran out, the audience would pelt presenters with foam and rubber balls.

When the slideshows wrapped up, all that was left to do was wage a friendly battle between happy coursemates. Congratulations to the 2024 Embryology alumni!

Check out more photos in the gallery below!

2024 Embryology students and course directors pose together in Waterfront Park. — 2024 Embryology students and course directors Tatjana Piotrowski (second row, far left) and Athula Wikramanayake (first row, far left) gather in Waterfront Park. Credit: Tatjana Piotrowski

2024 Embryology students present an analysis of the cohort's favorite research organisms. — 2024 Embryology students present an analysis of the cohort's favorite research organisms at the course's final Show 'N Tell event last Saturday. Credit: Alex Megerle

Four microscope images from Embryology course students — Images of stained embryos taken by previous Embryology students. A) daddy-long-legs (*Phalangium opilio*) by G. Gainnett, cover image Proc. R. Soc. 2021, B-D) winners of Yokogawa CSU Spinning Disk Image Competition. B) slipper snail (Crepidula), Jake Leyhr, Uppsala U., Sweden, C) squid, Bridget Vincent, UCSB, and D) Hydra (Daniel Bressan de Andrade, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ), Brazil).

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Embryology Students Celebrate Final Show ‘N Tell, Course Completion

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