ÖAW – IST Austria Lecture: The Development of Colour Patterns in Fishes: Towards an Understanding of the Evolution of Beauty

IST Austria and the Austrian Academy of Sciences have initiated a joint lecture series aiming to bring to Austria speakers of the highest international standing active in fields that are of mutual interest to both institutions and to a wider public.

The lecture series will be continued by Christiane Nüsslein-Volhard, Honorary Professor at the Faculty for Biology at the University of Tübingen and former Director of the Max-Planck-Institute for Developmental Biology. In 1995, Christiane Nüsslein-Volhard was awarded the Nobel Prize for Medicine or Physiology, together with Eric Wieschaus and Edward B. Lewis, for their research on the genetic control of embryonic development.

The lecture will focus on three different types of pigment cells that give rise to the characteristic striped pattern of the zebrafish. They all originate from stem cells of the peripheral nervous system that can move along the spinal nerves. Christiane Nüsslein-Volhard will explain how collective migration of these cells, cell interaction and the influence of the tissue environment cause the different colour patterns observed in fish.

The talk will conclude with a Q&A followed by a reception. Please register here by May 23, 2017.