Developmental Biology

Developmental biology has evolved enormously in recent years due to the application of modern methods of scientific analysis and interdisciplinary approaches. Developmental processes are now followed by live imaging, allowing researchers to visualize processes that were invisible for years when traditional methods were applied. Improved culture conditions allow biologists to study the developmental stages that were hidden until now and could only be interpreted by indirect observations.

The interdisciplinarity allows for the use of tools that were so far not applied in biological studies. It assures fantastic progress in understanding developmental processes. Genomic, proteomic, and other omic approaches allow us to globally interpret all kinds of genetic data with accuracy, which was not available so far. Recent technological progress has changed all aspects of biomedical studies, including developmental biology, which is at the center of the scope of our “Developmental Biology” section of the Biology journal. We want to take advantage of this progress and publish modern papers that can deeply impact this field of biology.

Therefore, we invite developmental biologists to publish in the “Developmental Biology” section of our journal original and review articles on mechanisms of embryonic development, cell differentiation, growth, homeostasis, and regeneration both in humans, animals, plants, and unicellular organisms. We would like to focus on molecular, cellular, genetic, and evolutionary aspects of developmental processes in all organisms. We are interested in publishing papers not only on the early stages of embryonic and/or fetus development but also on aging and pathologies related to developmental processes, like cancers, genetic disorders, or toxicologic adverse effects.

Recent progress in understanding the mechanisms of cell pluripotency, differentiation, and dedifferentiation has prompted numerous studies on stem cell biology and their potential applications in medicine. We would like to attract articles from authors working on all kinds of stem cells: embryonic, adult, and progenitor cells, both natural and produced in laboratories. Studies on organoids are also warmly welcome. We believe that these modern artificial systems can deliver important information on molecular mechanisms involved in developmental processes, which are more difficult to discover and analyze in the natural systems of living organisms.

• embryo/fetus development
• differentiation
• growth
• homeostasis
• regeneration
• aging
• cell cycle regulation
• stem cells
• organoids