Developmental biology is one of the most exciting and fast-growing
fields - day. In part, this is so because the subject matter deals with
the innately fascinating biological events--changes in form, structure,
and function of the organism. The other reason for much of the
excitement in developmental biology is that the field has truly become
the unifying melting pot of biology, and provides a framework that
integrates anatomy, physiology, genetics, biochemistry, and cellular and
molecular biology, as well as evolutionary biology. No longer is the
study of embryonic development merely "embryology." In fact, development
biology has produced important paradigms for both basic and clinical
biomedical sciences alike. Though modern developmental biology has its
roots in "experimental embry- ogy" and the even more classical "chemical
embryology," the recent explosive and remarkable advances in
developmental biology are critically linked to the advent of the
"cellular and molecular biology revolution." The impressive arsenal of
expe- mental and analytical tools derived from cell and molecular
biology, which promise to continue to expand, together with the
exponentially developing sophistication in fu- tional imaging and
information technologies, guarantee that the study of the devel- ing
embryo will contribute one of the most captivating areas of biological
research in the next millennium.
