The development of a fertilized egg, first into an embryo and then into an adult form, depends largely on the genetic information contained in its DNA. While DNA is the same in all cells, the information produced is specific to each of our cells. In molecular terms, different sets of genes will be expressed, leading to the immense cellular diversity that gradually builds an organism and makes it function. How this genetic machinery is set in motion, and the mechanisms underlying differential gene expression, are two of the key questions raised by the study of gene regulation.

The lectures associated with this Chair consist in presenting recent work and concepts concerning gene regulation during embryonic development, as well as new experimental paradigms developed in recent years to facilitate these studies, such as synthetically produced pseudo-embryos. These fine molecular mechanisms are also the source of the evolutionary variations observed between animal species, since these variations are naturally produced during embryogenesis. Thus, the study of genetic regulation necessarily leads to the study of the mechanisms of evolutionary variation, an important aspect covered in these lectures. In fact, all genetic studies of our development only make sense in the general context of the evolution of species, since these mechanisms are ancestral and shared, for the most part, by all vertebrate animals. From this perspective, studying these regulatory mechanisms at work today helps us understand their origin and evolution. This general context, this new epistemology with its roots in 19^th century anatomists, is called Evo-Dévo, and this Chair is positioned at the center of this new field of study.

This is also the context in which the experimental laboratory associated with this Chair works, located within the CIRB (Centre Interdisciplinaire de Recherches en Biologie) on the premises of the Collège de France, place Marcelin-Berthelot in Paris.