The CDB Symposium 2013 entitled， "The Making of a Vertebrate" will be held March 4-6， 2013 at the RIKEN Center for Developmental Biology in Kobe， Japan.

The meeting 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 program will include both oral and poster presentations. A small number of poster abstracts will be selected by the organizing committee for oral presentations.