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The RIKEN Center for Developmental Biology (CDB) was established to conduct research in the fields of development and regeneration, and to help establish scientific bases for regenerative medicine. As part of that mission, the CDB inaugurated a series of annual symposia in 2003 to facilitate the global and timely exchange of findings in related research fields (http://www.cdb.riken.jp/).

The 2013 symposium represents a unique opportunity to discuss and reconsider the great achievements of developmental biology over these past many years, and highlight the key questions to address going forward. What do we still need to achieve? The general context has changed dramatically over the past decade. Developmental biology is now closely linked with cell biology and biochemistry, and the potential of regenerative medicine continues to emerge. Our traditional discipline is now also merging with systems biology, quantitative biology, physics, mathematics, and theoretical biology. We feel that this is an opportune moment to pause and reflect on how to gain novel insights into the anatomical and embryological fabric of multicellular organisms.

In the early '90s, Peter Lawrence gave the title "The Making of a Fly" to his textbook, during a period of transition from the era of classical genetics to the triumph of molecular genetics; a shift from BC (before cloning) to AD (after Drosophila). We have yet to see what will be the heuristic value of this paradigm, especially when applied to the understanding of vertebrate development. The fundamental question as to the extent to which we can now "conceive" or "make" a vertebrate body at the conceptual level, remains to be answered. This question is of course closely related with evolutionary biology, a link that we would also like to emphasize in the symposium.

The program will feature presentations covering:
1) The legacy of Haeckel (phylotype, Garstang neoteny, auricularian theory, evolution of larvae, origin of vertebrates, developmental constraints and robustness)
2) From urbilaterians to chordate (notochord, segmentation, DV inversion)
3) Pluripotency (the diversity of its molecular mechanisms in amniotes and origin in vertebrates, clonal invertebrates, X-chromosome inactivation and imprinting)
4) Gastrulation (comparative views of axis and germ layer formation in vertebrates)
5) Genetic control of morphogenesis (body plan, genetic code, transcriptional network, genome organization)
6) Vertebrate characters (neural crest, placode, brain).

The meeting is scheduled for 3 days, and the program is scheduled to start on the morning of March 4 and end in the afternoon of March 6, 2013. The program will include both oral and poster sessions. A small number of poster abstracts will be selected by the organizing committee for oral presentations. The number of participants, including invited speakers, will be limited to 150. We would be delighted to have your participation as a speaker at the 2013 symposium, and feel that the program would be enriched by your contribution.

We look forward to welcoming you to Kobe and the RIKEN Center for Developmental Biology.

Masatoshi Takeichi
Director, RIKEN Center for Developmental Biology