developmental biology

American  

noun

1. the branch of biology dealing with the processes of growth and change that transform an organism from a fertilized egg or asexual reproductive unit, as a spore or gemmule, to an adult.

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developmental biology Cultural  

1. The study of the processes by which an organism develops from a zygote to its full structure. This field includes the study of cellular differentiation as well as body structure development. (See also embryology.)

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Etymology

Origin of developmental biology

First recorded in 1970–75

Example Sentences

Nathan Shatz, who earned his molecular, cellular and developmental biology degree from Michigan, is a co-founder of Milieu.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 17, 2026

Understanding why aging so often goes hand in hand with disease is the central focus of the lab led by Kris Burkewitz, assistant professor of cell and developmental biology.

From Science Daily • Feb. 3, 2026

Irving Weissman, MD, professor of pathology and of developmental biology, and Kim Hasenkrug, PhD, the chief of Rocky Mountain Laboratories' Retroviral Immunology Section, are the senior authors of the research.

From Science Daily • Mar. 27, 2024

When cloning and stem cell technology arrived in the late 1990s, Martinez Arias immediately saw that these areas had the potential to address questions in developmental biology that had been previously unanswerable.

From Scientific American • Nov. 9, 2023

Centuries of embryology and morphology laid the groundwork for the discipline of developmental biology.

From Scientific American • Nov. 9, 2023