Department of Biology

Faculty of Science

Brian Hall

DISTINGUISHED RESEARCH PROFESSOR EMERITUS
PhD., DSc. (New England), LL.D (h.c., Calgary), FAAA, FRSC.

  • Evolutionary Cell Biology
  • Books/Symposium Proceedimgs (2018-2022)
  • Publications (2017-2024)
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    aving retired in July 2007 I no longer teach in the undergraduate programme.

    I kept my research lab going, supported by NSERC, until 2017. Since then, collaboration with several colleagues/friends has kept my brain active in several areas of development and evolution (see publications below)

    Evolutionary Cell Biology

    Over the past five years I have taken up the concept of Evolutionary Cell Biology, based on the premise that cells make the features of the phenotype using, in part, information provided by the genotype: there is a cenotype between genotype and phenotype. This is not a new concept but it has been down-played in our concentration on genes, and oddly enough, in our concentration on Evo-devo.

    The approach I took was to to establish, with Sally Moody of George Washington University and CRC Press, a series of books on Evolutionary Cell Biology. The first book in the series — Cells in Evolutionary Biology: Translating Genotypes into Phenotypes — Past, Present. Future (edited by Brian Hall and Sally) — was published in 2018. Thirteen other books have been published (2020-2022) with the 15th book to be published on 3 March 2023.

    See Evolutionary Cell Biology - Book Series - Routledge & CRC Press.
    The final three books in the series are in press or in final stages of preparation.
    Books/Symposium Proceedings (2018-2022)
    • Witten, P. A., and Hall, B. K. (2022) The Notochord: Development, Evolution and Contributions to the Vertebral Column. CRC Press, Boca Raton Fl.

    • Bishop, C., and Hall, B. K. (eds) (2019) Deferring Development: Setting aside cells for future use in development and evolution. CRC Press, Boca Raton FL.

    • Hall, B. K., and Moody, S. A. (eds) (2018) Cells in Evolutionary Biology: Translating Genotypes into Phenotypes — Past, Present, Future. CRC Press, Boca Raton FL

    • Witten, P. E., Hall, B. K., Huysseune, SA., Laizé, V., Sire, J-Y., Winkler, C., Metz, J. R., and Rosenthal, H. (eds) (2018) Interdisciplinary Approaches in Fish Skeletal Biology. Special issue of J. Applied Ichthyology 34(2), 424–523.

    Publications (2017-2024) [as of March 10, 2024)

    Hall, B. K. (2023) How a scholarly spat shaped genetic research. Review of Disputed Inheritance. The Battle over Mendel and the Futiure of Biology. Gregory Radick, The University of Chicago Press, Chicago. 2003. Nature 619, 690–691.

    Martini, A., Sahd, L., Rückin, M., Huyseune, A., Hall, B. K., Boglione, C., and Witten, P. E. (2023) Deformity or variation? Phenotypic diversity in the zebrafish vertebral column. J. Anat. DOI:10.1111/joa.13926

    Hall, B. K.(2023) Levels of Interactions. Foreword to Roles of Skeletal Muscle in Organ Development: Prenatal Interdependence among Cells, Tissues, and Organs (B. Kablar, ed.), pp. v-x. Springer Nature Switzerland AG

    Hall, B. K., and Hanken, J. (2023) Modularity, homology, heterochrony – Gavin de Beer’s Legacy to the mammalian skull. Phil. Trans R. Soc Lond. 378: 20220078. https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2022.0078

    Witten, P. E., and Hall, B. K. (2021) The Ancient, Segmented, Active and Permanent Notochord. In Ancient Fishes and their Living Relatives: a Tribute to John G. Maisey (A. Pradel, J. S. S. Denton and P. Janvier, (eds), pp. 215–224. Verlag Dr. Friedrich Pfeil, Munich, Germany

    Bailleul, A. M., Zheng, W., Horner, J. R., Hall, B. K., Holliday, C. M., and Schweitzer, M. H. (2020). Evidence of proteins, chromosomes and chemical markers of DNA in exceptionally preserved dinosaur cartilage. National Science Review 1–8. doi: 10.1093/nsr/nwz206

    Hall, B. K. (2020). Conrad Hal Waddington (1905–1975). In: eLS (formerly Encyclopaedia of Life Sciences) John Wiley & Sons, Ltd: Chichester. eLS- 9780470015902. DOI: 10.1002/9780470015902.a0028954

    Rawlinson, K. A., Lapraz, F., Ballister, E. R., Terasaki, M., Rodgers, J., McDowell, R. J., Girstmair, J., Criswell, K. E., Boldogkoi, M., Simpson, F., Goulding, D., Cormie, C., Hall, B. K., Lucas, R. J., and Telford M. J. (2019). Extraocular, rod-like photoreceptors in a flatworm express xenopsin photopigment. eLife 2019;8:e45465 DOI: 10.7554/eLife.45465

    Hall, B.K., and Witten, P. E. (2019) Plasticity and Variation of Skeletal Cells and Tissues and the Evolutionary Development of Actinopterygian Fishes. In Evolution and Development of Fishes. (Z. Johanson, C. Underwood and M. Richter, eds.) pp. 126–143. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.

    Hall, B. K. (2018) Germ layers, the neural crest and emergent organization in development and evolution. Genesis 56, (Jun;56(6-7):e23103. doi: 10.1002/dvg.23103

    Seidela, R., Blumberg, M., Pechriggl, E. J., Lyons, K., Hall, B. K., Fratsl, P., Weaver, J. C., and Dean, M. A. (2017) Calcified cartilage or bone? Collagens in the tessellated endoskeletons of cartilaginous fish (sharks and rays). J. Struct. Biol. 200, 54–71.