Fruit flies

4-Sep-2007 -- The fragile head and brain of a fly are not easy things to examine but MRC scientists have figured out how to make it a little simpler. And they hope their research will shed light on human disease.

Using an imaging technique, originally developed at the MRC Human Genetics Unit, called optical projection tomography (OPT) they have generated startling 3D images of the inside of a fruit fly for the first time. The OPT images could help to speed up genetic research into Alzheimer’s and other human diseases that affect brain cells.    » read more »

May 14, 2007 -- BERKELEY, CA — The National Institutes of Health (NIH) today (May 14) announced the first grants in a four-year, $57 million effort to identify the functional elements in the genomes of the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster and the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans.    » read more »