Course lectures will present and discuss major topics of cross-species embryonic development and of tissue and cell differentiation and communication, such as developmental axes determination and pattern formation, acquisition of cell fates, stem cell biology, and sex determination, as well as the molecular genetics of the conserved underlying signal transduction pathways. A parallel focus to the discussion of conceptual principles will be on the research methods utilized, ranging from experimental embryology and classical genetic screens in model organisms to system biology, omics, organoids and advanced imaging techniques characteristic of present day research. We will also discuss how these technologies drive the field of developmental biology forward and the constraints that they impose.