Call for papers – Human Development

Development, host of the Node, invites you to submit your latest research to our upcoming Special Issue – Human Development. This issue will be coordinated by Guest Editor Hongmei Wang 王红梅 (State Key Laboratory of Organ Regeneration and Reconstruction, Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, China) alongside our team of research-active Editors.

As a journal, Development has a long history of supporting the field of human developmental biology. Since launching a series of dedicated meetings – the first of their kind – Development has published two special issues dedicated to human development, the first in 2015 and the second in 2018. Nearly a decade later, we’ve witnessed a revolutionary change in techniques and conceptual approaches for studying human development. Organoid systems have advanced significantly, with sophisticated multi-lineage and assembloid systems that better recapitulate organogenesis and enable the study of complex cell interactions. Similarly, stem cell-based embryo models grant unprecedented access to the earliest stages of human embryogenesis. This latest special issue, announced in conjunction with the Human Development: Stem Cells, Models, Embryos meeting co-organised by Development and the Human Developmental Biology Initiative, aims to build on that legacy and capture these exciting advances in our understanding of how our species develops. We value studies that cover developmental and regenerative principles at any scale, from genetic regulation to signalling and tissue–tissue interactions and across the human lifespan, from fertilisation, implantation and gastrulation, to organogenesis and postnatal processes such as nervous system refinement, puberty, pregnancy and the maintenance and regeneration of adult tissues by resident stem cells. We welcome comparative studies using non-human systems that improve our understanding of human evolution and developmental disease. We seek to showcase research spanning the full breadth of available experimental systems, including primary tissue, human stem cells and their derived 2D and 3D models, alongside emerging approaches in bioengineering and computational biology that seek to develop new or improved in vitro systems with which to uncover principles and mechanisms of human development and regeneration.

The deadline for submitting research papers is 1 March 2027.