Special Issue – Lifelong Development: the Maintenance, Regeneration and Plasticity of Tissues

https://journals.biologists.com/dev/pages/lifelongdev

Development invites you to submit your latest research to our upcoming special issue – Lifelong Development: the Maintenance, Regeneration and Plasticity of Tissues. This issue will be coordinated by Guest Editors Meritxell Huch (Max Planck Institute of Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics, Germany) and Mansi Srivastava (Harvard University and Museum of Comparative Zoology, USA), working alongside our team of academic Editors. 

Traditionally, developmental biology has primarily been seen as the study of the embryo. However, developmental processes and pathways are used throughout the life of an animal to maintain and regenerate tissues. For example, high turnover tissues rely on tissue-resident stem cells that undergo continuous cycles of cell fate specification and differentiation, while repair and regeneration require the spatiotemporal coordination of a complex suite of developmental events. Moreover, systemic inputs – either internal (such as from the hormonal or immune systems) or external (from the environment) – can induce radical changes in tissue organisation, such as experience-dependent rewiring of neuronal circuits, pregnancy-induced development of the mammary gland of mammals, or starvation-induced whole body degrowth in a range of invertebrates. In this special issue, we seek to highlight papers that look beyond the embryo and focus on how developmental processes are reused across the lifespan of an animal.

We encourage submission of Research Articles and Reports, as well as of Techniques and Resources papers. Prospective authors are welcome to send pre-submission enquiries to dev.specialissue@biologists.com. We also invite proposals for Review-type articles: if you are interested in contributing a Review, please send a summary of your proposed article to us by 15 January 2025. Please review our overview of article types and refer to our author guidelines for information about manuscript preparation.

The special issue will be published in late 2025 (although note that, in our continuous publication model, we will aim to publish articles as soon as they are accepted*). The issue will be widely promoted online and at key global conferences, guaranteeing maximum exposure for your work.

Visit our submit to Development page for more information. To submit your article, visit our online submission system; please highlight in your cover letter that the submission is to be considered for this special issue.

The deadline for submitting articles is 15 May 2025.

Submit your paper:

https://journals.biologists.com/dev/pages/submit-manuscript