Developmental biology (including embryology) is proposed as "the stem cell of biological disciplines.” Genetics, cell biology, oncology, immunology, evolutionary mechanisms, neurobiology, and systems biology each has its ancestry in developmental biology. Moreover, developmental biology continues to roll on, budding off more disciplines, while retaining its own identity. While its descendant disciplines differentiate into sciences with a restricted set of paradigms, examples, and techniques, developmental biology remains vigorous, pluripotent, and relatively undifferentiated. In many disciplines, especially in evolutionary biology and oncology, the developmental perspective is being reasserted as an important research program.

发育生物学（包括胚胎学）被提议为“生物学学科的干细胞”。遗传学，细胞生物学，肿瘤学，免疫学，进化机制，神经生物学和系统生物学在发展生物学中都有自己的祖先，而且，发展生物学继续发展，萌芽了更多学科，同时保留了自己的身份。进入具有有限范式，示例和技术的科学领域，发展生物学仍然充满活力，多能且相对没有差异，在许多学科中，尤其是在进化生物学和肿瘤学领域，发展观点被重新确立为一项重要的研究计划。