Mammalian Embryology Conference: celebrating the pioneering work of Andrzej K. Tarkowski (Warsaw, Poland, 25-26 October, 2013)

During this Conference, a distinguished group of scientists from all over the world presented their latest studies on early mammalian development. Among them there were former students and colleagues of Professor Tarkowski. The Conference was opened with an address from the Dean of the Faculty of Biology, Professor Agnieszka Mostowska, who talked about the significance of the scientific and organizational activities of Professor Tarkowski, which, for the last 50 years, have been very important for Warsaw University. Sixteen lectures were presented over the two-days of the Conference. The topics covered studies of the regulation of the cell cycle during gametogenesis, activation of the oocyte at fertilization, control of cleavage, formation of the earliest cell lines of the embryo, cell totipotency, pluripotency, differentiation during early development, primordial germ cells, developmental epigenetics and evolutionary aspects of the study of development. Many of the topics presented had a beginning in the seminal works of Professor Tarkowski, who pioneered studies on the developmental potency of isolated blastomeres, on the formation of experimental chimaeras, on the artificial activation of oocytes and the development of parthenogenetic embryos. A detailed program of the Conference can be found at the following link:http://embryconf.biol.uw.edu.pl.