Developmental biology is the branch of biological sciences that investigates the processes by which organisms grow, differentiate, and acquire their form from fertilization to adulthood and often through regeneration and aging. It integrates molecular genetics, cell biology, genomics, and systems biology to elucidate mechanisms such as cell fate specification, pattern formation, morphogenesis, and organogenesis. Developmental biology examines regulatory gene networks, signaling pathways (e.g., Wnt, Hedgehog, Notch, TGF-β), epigenetic modifications, and mechanical forces that coordinate spatial and temporal control of gene expression and cellular behavior, providing a framework for understanding congenital disorders, tissue regeneration, and evolutionary changes in body plans.
One of the most widely accepted models for how cells remember their identity may be incorrect. This is shown in a new study by two research groups at Umeå University. In Science Advances, they present results that overturn ...
Cell & Microbiology
Mar 13, 2026
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19
How does a tiny cluster of cells become an embryo with a head, trunk, and tail? And how do thousands of genes coordinate this development? A new imaging method makes it possible to visualize the activity of thousands of genes ...
Cell & Microbiology
Mar 12, 2026
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15
A study has traced thousands of conserved regulatory elements back 300 million years, revealing deep principles of plant genome evolution—a discovery that could pave the way for more precise engineering of crop traits.
Evolution
Mar 12, 2026
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21
How do biological cells join forces to form a structure? In her Ph.D. research, Daphne Nesenberend uses mathematics to show how forces and cooperation between cells create structure—and how simulations and experiments can ...
Cell & Microbiology
Mar 5, 2026
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13
New 3D reconstructions of a key sensory organ in ctenophores reveal an unexpected structural and functional complexity. The findings suggest that an elementary brain may have already appeared in our most ancient relatives, ...
Evolution
Mar 4, 2026
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86
A research group led by Associate Professor Tetsuya Muramoto from the Faculty of Science, Toho University, has established a CRISPR genome editing technique that enables comparative analysis of the evolution of multicellularity ...
Cell & Microbiology
Mar 3, 2026
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8
Scientists have discovered a key biological safeguard that helps one of nature's most impressive regenerators, the planarian flatworm, correctly rebuild its organs. The new research, published in Nature Communications, illuminates ...
Cell & Microbiology
Mar 2, 2026
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14
Hair regrowth treatment may soon take a major leap forward, as researchers in a recent study have successfully grown complete, fully functional hair follicles outside of the living body, in a dish. This was made possible ...
How do plants achieve their remarkably regular arrangement of leaves and flowers? And why does this pattern remain so stable, even as plants grow and respond to their environment? Researchers at Wageningen University & Research ...
Plants & Animals
Feb 25, 2026
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27
For decades, scientists viewed the genome of a newly fertilized egg as a structural "blank slate"—a disordered tangle of DNA waiting for the embryo to wake up and start reading its own genetic instructions. In research published ...
Biotechnology
Feb 24, 2026
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