̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge - Drosophila

Opinion: Can organs have a sexual identity?

Anonymous — Wed, 24 Feb 2016 15:03:28 +0000

A new study published in Nature suggests that the stem cells that allow our organs to grow “know” their own sexual identity, and this influences how they function. These findings could explain why the prevalence of some diseases, such as certain cancers, differs between the sexes.

Beyond the obvious reproduction-related anatomical differences between males and females, many other organs also show sex specific characteristics, for example in the form of subtle differences in size or in their susceptibility to disease. ̽��ֱ��effect of hormones has been extensively researched, and can explain many of the differences. However, less is known about the potential impact of differences between the cells that created the organs themselves.

̽��ֱ��researchers found important genetic differences at the cellular level and also demonstrated how these differences impact organ growth, independently of circulating hormones. These findings could shed light on why some diseases prevail in men or women.

Regenerating gut cells

To uncover genes that regulate cellular differences between male and female organs, the group, led by Irene Miguel-Aliaga studied intestines of fruit flies. Fruit flies are good experimental systems to investigate gene function and, importantly, they exhibit clear sex-related traits such as body size (females are larger than males) and differences in gut physiology.

̽��ֱ��researchers hypothesised that the differences in size and gut physiology between the sexes might be due to intrinsic genetic differences at the cellular level. By monitoring the degree to which different genes were activated in both sexes, the researchers found that subgroups of genes regulating gut function were activated differently in male and female flies. This suggested that “sex-determination” genes (genes that are active due to sex chromosomes) inside gut cells were affecting organ function.

Gut cells are continuously regenerated by gut stem cells through cell division, in which the parent stem cell typically divides into a stem cell plus a specialised cell which will no longer divide but performs functions of the gut. Several mechanisms adjust stem cell divisions to suit the needs of the tissue (for example, if the gut is damaged, stem cells produce more cells to enable tissue regeneration).

By manipulating genes in the cells to act as more “male” or more “female” the authors demonstrated that sex-determinants endowed “female” intestinal stem cells with better ability to divide. This increased stem cell division resulted in longer and better regenerating female guts compared to male guts. Suppressing this “sex-determination path” specifically in intestinal stem cells of a female fly caused the gut to resemble that of a male fly, and activating it in intestinal stem cells of a male caused its gut to increase in size to that of a normal female fly. Further experiments identified additional links between sex-determinants and cell growth, providing a more complete picture.

Advantages and disadvantages

Higher rates of cell multiplication can have advantages for an organ, in that it can speed up the rate of repair after injury. In the female flies it improves nutrient absorption to accommodate high nutritional demands linked to reproduction. However, higher proliferation also leads to more rapid ageing, and higher vulnerability to tumours. Consistent with this view, the study showed that female flies were more prone to genetically-induced intestinal tumours than males; moreover, the researchers were able to confirm that suppressing the “feminising genes” reduced the ease with which tumours form in the gut of female fruit flies.

̽��ֱ��researchers therefore showed how sex-determining genes in stem cells can control organ function, independently of external hormone influences. This had consequences on organ size and also optimised reproduction in females but came with the risk of increased susceptibility to tumours.

̽��ֱ��findings have broad implications in the way we understand tissue maintenance, disease and ageing. Future work will be needed to investigate if the mechanisms discovered in the fruit flies' intestines are also seen in other tissues, and if they are applicable in mammals. If this is the case (which is considered probable), sex-related differences may affect how cells respond to treatments and so by understanding these differences we might be able to develop more effective therapies.

Golnar Kolahgar, ̽��ֱ��Gurdon Institute, Postdoctoral research associate, ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge

This article was originally published on ̽��ֱ��Conversation. Read the original article.

̽��ֱ��opinions expressed in this article are those of the individual author(s) and do not represent the views of the ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge.

Inset image: Drosophila immigrans face (John Tann).

Golnar Kolahgar (Gurdon Institute) discusses the suggestion that the stem cells which allow our organs to grow “know” their own sexual identity.

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Framed Embroidery Kidney

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Opinion: How fruit flies can help keep African scientists at home

Anonymous — Mon, 15 Feb 2016 12:01:02 +0000

̽��ֱ��humble fruit fly is being put to an unusual use in sub-Saharan Africa: it’s being used as bait. Its intended lure? It’s hoped that the tiny creature, whose scientific name is Drosophila melanogaster, can stop the exodus of researchers from Africa.

At the moment most of the biomedical research being done in African laboratories is performed using rats. Now a project called DrosAfrica is underway to promote the use of the fruit fly as a model organism for research into human diseases.

There are several reasons for this. Firstly, rats are far more expensive to keep than fruit flies. As an affordable alternative, the fruit fly requires fewer resources to maintain and not as much expensive preparation for experiments.

Also, as a model system, Drosophila enables researchers to perform sophisticated genetics, live imaging, genome-wide analysis and other state-of-the-art approaches. Drosophila research has identified thousands of genes with human equivalents. This has provided key insights into cancer biology, pathology, neurobiology and immunology.

Drosophila is a prime model organism with tens of thousands of researchers working on every aspect of their biology. This work is aided by electronic open resources such as Flybase and stock centres like the one in Bloomington, Indiana in the US. ̽��ֱ��centre will send Drosophila to any lab in the world for the cost of shipping. These stock centres are funded by governmental grants enabling 100 000s flies to be kept alive in warehouses.

And entire research unit has been built with a focus on understanding a specific aspect of the fly. ̽��ֱ��most famous is called Janelia Farm, founded by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute in the US.

A bigger agenda

̽��ֱ��project that’s using fruit flies as bait for scientists is known as DrosAfrica. It wants to drive the paradigm shift from rats to flies as experimental organisms. To do this, project leaders have organised workshops to share fruit fly techniques with universities and research institutes across sub Saharan Africa.

But there’s more to the work than merely extolling the virtues of fruit flies.

We also try to provide basic equipment such as dissecting microscopes, buffers, slides and antibodies for labelling proteins to facilitate the creation of local research communities. Such strong communities will ultimately be able to provide PhD programmes and research opportunities for African researchers. This will mean students don’t automatically feel they have to emigrate when seeking research opportunities.

Powerful local research programmes will also help to place the continent in the spotlight of international research. This could ultimately lead to a return of expatriates with a strong scientific background.

Activities organised by DrosAfrica: Past and Future

During the last three years, DrosAfrica has organised three workshops at the Institute of Biomedical Research Kampala International ̽��ֱ��-Western Campus, Uganda. Two focused exclusively on the use of Drosophila for biomedical research. ̽��ֱ��other concentrated on image and data analysis techniques.

Attendants and faculty members of the first DrosAfrica workshop ‘Drosophila in Biomedical Research: Affordable AND Impacting!’ (Summer 2013)

̽��ֱ��workshops' participants came from sub-Saharan Africa and included Nigerians, Kenyans, Ugandans and a delegate from South Sudan. They were able to work on several common projects and then networked after the workshops using information and resources on a dedicated website. These interactions planted the seed for developing an African Drosophila research community. At this institute, we’ve been lucky to build on the work that the non-profit organisation Trend has already done. Their team of volunteer scientists equipped the institute’s lab and introduced insect research models to the local scientists.

In 2016 the project plans to deliver workshops at Kenya’s International Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology. ̽��ֱ��team is also visiting Nigeria during the second half of February to pave the way for future research collaborations.

̽��ֱ��work done over the past few years has already paid dividends. Alumni from the workshops have presented their work at international scientific conferences and supervised undergraduate, Masters and PhD projects. PhD candidates have graduated on the basis of their research done on flies. One student has submitted an abstract to the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology.

DrosAfrica vision

̽��ֱ��DrosAfrica project is taking important steps to increase the African contribution to scientific advancement. In the coming years we hope to further boost local research opportunities to promote genuine African research led by African researchers, all of them investigating matters of interest to Africans.

And to think: it all started with a tiny little fruit fly.

*DrosAfrica would like to acknowledge the generosity of Faculty members and sponsors, without whom the workshops described above wouldn’t have been possible. They are:

(Cambridge Africa, Sayansi, Wellcome Trust, TWAS, KIU, Pembroke College-Cambridge, St John’s College-Cambridge, Emmanuel College-Cambridge, EMBO, Fruit4Science, and very specially to FRS Tony Kouzarides).*

Silvia Muñoz-Descalzo, Lecturer in Biology & Biochemistry; Developmental Biology Theme, ̽��ֱ�� of Bath and Timothy Weil, Lecturer, Department of Zoology, ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge

This article was originally published on ̽��ֱ��Conversation. Read the original article.

̽��ֱ��opinions expressed in this article are those of the individual author(s) and do not represent the views of the ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge.

Timothy Weil (Department of Zoology) and Silvia Muñoz-Descalzo ( ̽��ֱ�� of Bath) discuss the project that aims to make the fruit fly a model organism for research in Africa.

Tim Weil and Anna York-Andersen, Weil Lab

Actin cables in Drosophila nurse cells during late-oogenesis. At this stage, nurse cells die and extrude their cytoplasm into the developing oocyte.

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African universities reap fruits of fly research

tdk25 — Fri, 10 Jul 2015 05:00:12 +0000

Drosophila melanogaster, better known as the humble fruit fly, has emerged as the unlikely basis of an attempt to help to stem a “brain drain” from African universities.

While they may be loathed by many as a relentlessly irritating pest, fruit flies are nevertheless being used as an ally by a team of researchers who believe that they could play a role in cultivating research talent in Africa, and in preventing its loss to the rest of the world.

Under a new project, called “DrosAfrica”, fruit fly research labs are being established at institutions in Uganda, Nigeria, and Kenya. ̽��ֱ��hope is that the training and research that these centres undertake will nurture a community of biomedical research scientists in Sub-Saharan Africa, and inspire other universities to follow suit.

Despite their unglamorous reputation, fruit flies are of great value to scientific research and have played an often overlooked role in some of the biggest biological breakthroughs of the past 100 years. As an example, the first jet-lag gene, the first learning gene and the first channel proteins were all identified in flies.

About 75% of known human disease genes have a recognisable match in the genome of fruit flies, and this makes them ideal for research on subjects such as cellular development and the causes of complex conditions, such as neurodegeneration, psychiatric diseases, and cancer.

In Africa, where postgraduate scientific research in universities is often limited by financial constraints, or a lack of resources and infrastructure, Drosophila could therefore be a valuable tool. They are, after all, both cheap and – as people working in the food or restaurant industries tend to know only too well – available in plentiful supply.

Dr Isabel Palacios, a Fellow of St John’s College, ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge, and one of the founding academics behind DrosAfrica, argues that this could help to resolve a shortage of scientific talent emerging from the continent. African researchers make up only 2.2% of the world’s academic research community as a whole, and Sub-Saharan Africa contributes just 0.6%. Lacking the tools needed to undertake world-class research, many African researchers also leave their own countries and move to better-resourced institutions, leading to a “brain drain” effect that has deprived their home nations of skilled researchers.

“Students at African universities who start a PhD often find that they can’t really do much research and end up lecturing and teaching instead,” Palacios said. “Our big idea is to use fruit flies as the basis of affordable, meaningful research projects for people who are at this stage in their academic careers. That should enable us to create a biomedical research community that doesn’t really exist at the moment.”

̽��ֱ��inspiration for DrosAfrica came from workshops organised in 2011 by Lucia Prieto Godino, at the ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge, and the Nigerian scientist, Professor Sadiq Yusuf at Kampala International ̽��ֱ��, Uganda, at which Palacios and others taught. These set out to equip scientists and faculty members with the knowledge and skills needed to undertake research in biomedical science and state-of-the-art cellular biology using fruit flies. Although DrosAfrica is an independent initiative, Palacios continues to collaborate with Godino. More workshops are now being planned in Kenya and Nigeria for 2016.

Participants are given guidance on how to set up their own research project to study topics such as cancer, the immune system, or infectious diseases. ̽��ֱ��workshops also provide opportunities to network with other researchers from across Africa who share similar interests, and allocate each participant a mentor who helps them further develop their own ideas and experiments. An online learning community has also been established, to promote interaction between alumni and the sharing of resources and information.

̽��ֱ��workshops have also now led to the establishment of new laboratories in various African Universities undertaking fruit fly research. According to a follow-up survey conducted by the DrosAfrica group, labs have been set up at the ̽��ֱ�� of Nairobi in Kenya, focusing on host-pathogen interactions in various diseases; and at Kampala International ̽��ֱ�� in Uganda, where MSc and PhD students are learning to use Drosophila in teams carrying out research on subjects such as antimalarial drugs, depression, epilepsy, and the role of nutrition in controlling stress.

A project to establish a Drosophila unit at the International College of Health Sciences and Liberal Arts, Nigeria, by one of the senior DrosAfrica alumni, is also being supported by the group.

In addition to doing research, these centres are planning to run their own workshops in the near future, which Dr Palacios hopes will enable the initiative to spread to other African institutions. She likens the model to that of Spain where, 40 years ago, top scientific research labs were few and far between. Almost by chance one lab started working on Drosophila and there are now several dozen of research centres – including some of the best Drosophila labs anywhere in the world – training emerging Spanish scientists.

“What we would really like to achieve, and what we are now beginning to get, is a situation where researchers are setting up their own labs and running ambitious experiments without having to leave Africa itself,” she said. “ ̽��ֱ��work that they are undertaking has the potential to have a real impact on human welfare.”

̽��ֱ��DrosAfrica project involves academics from the Universities of Cambridge, Bristol and Bath in the UK, the ̽��ֱ�� Pablo Olavide in Spain, and the Instituto Gulbenkian de Cicencia in Portugal, and Kampala International ̽��ֱ�� in Uganda. ̽��ֱ��project is supported by the Cambridge-Africa Programme and the Alborada Fund. Further information about the DrosAfrica project can be found at: http://drosafrica.org/.

Fruit flies are proving the unlikely source of a new initiative to help improve postgraduate research opportunities in Africa, with the support of Cambridge academics.

Students at African universities who start a PhD often find that they can’t really do much research and end up lecturing and teaching instead. Our big idea is to use fruit flies as the basis of affordable, meaningful research projects for people who are at this stage in their academic careers.

Isabel Palacios

Drosophila melanogaster

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How close are you to a fruit fly?

amb206 — Wed, 08 Jul 2015 08:22:55 +0000

Scroll to the end of the article to listen to the podcast.

Each morning a yeasty smell drifts through the basement of the Genetics Building. Research technician Huai Xue Lin arrives early to cook the food needed for millions of fruit flies. ̽��ֱ��Drosophila is not a picky eater: it thrives on a mix of cornmeal, sugar and yeast, mixed with agar to make it solid. ̽��ֱ��fly kitchen operates an impressive takeaway service, supplying not just the Fly Lab on the first floor but also Drosophila research facilities all over Cambridge.

As their name suggests, fruit flies are the small insects that appear on hot summer days to feast on the surface of ripening fruit – or sup on any wine or beer left out. Once Drosophila detect something sweet and sticky, they are annoyingly persistent but they pose no threat to human health.

Fruit flies are used by research groups throughout Cambridge to learn more about how genes determine development. That’s because, despite looking remarkably dissimilar to us, Drosophila have much the same fundamental biological make-up as humans. Significantly for medical scientists, they share 75% of the genes that cause disease in the human population.

Drosophila are not hard to raise in huge numbers. Their eggs hatch within 24 hours. ̽��ֱ��larva that crawls out eats and grows non-stop for about four days. It then pupates for around four days before emerging as an adult fly. ̽��ֱ��fly is sexually mature and ready to mate within a few hours.

Because fruit flies reproduce so fast, researchers use them to track ways in which traits, including genetic abnormalities, are transferred down many generations in a relatively short time. Drosophila are also easy to anaesthetise using carbon dioxide – and make a speedy recovery. These characteristics combine to make the fruit fly a valuable model for research into genetics and associated fields.

̽��ֱ��potential offered by Drosophila as a tool for understanding the principles of heredity was first explored in the USA early in the 20^th century when Thomas Hunt Morgan won the Nobel Prize "for his discoveries concerning the role played by the chromosome in heredity". British scientists began to use fruit flies as a research organism after the Second World War with the first fruit fly facility established in Cambridge in the 1960s.

Professor Michael Ashburner recalls the early days of Drosophila research in Cambridge: the flies were reared in milk bottles in a temporary lab located in suburban Cambridge. Ashburner and colleagues carried out extensive fundamental work to determine how genes control complex traits such as height and weight. He went on to become a pioneer in the use of computing in biology, developing a standardised vocabulary that enables scientists’ observations to be read by a computer.

As a key player in the sequencing of Drosophila by a public-private consortium, Ashburner helped to ensure that the research was made publicly available. His book Won for All: How the Drosophila Genome Was Sequenced is a compelling account of the highs and lows involved in a hugely ambitious project involving a number of institutions.

Today the Fly Lab is a modern facility on the first floor of the Genetics Building. Along one wall are storage units housing thousands of tubes containing live fruit flies. ̽��ֱ��tubes provide a ‘library’ of ‘stocks’ with each stock relating to a particular research project. ̽��ֱ��Lab is equipped with 24 work stations for researchers working on aspects of genetics. In addition, batches of Drosophila are also supplied to research groups working elsewhere in Cambridge.

̽��ֱ��fields covered range from neurodegenerative disease to parasite interactions. ̽��ֱ��most recent addition to the Lab’s clients is the Hannon Group at Cambridge Biomedical Campus which is using Drosophila as one of many pathways for developing new methods for cancer diagnosis, treatment and prevention.

Fly Lab manager, Dr Simon Collier, says: “Flies can be used to address a wide variety of problems in biology and medicine. ̽��ֱ��Fly Lab provides a resource not just to fly workers in Cambridge but elsewhere in the UK and Europe. I believe we can be especially helpful to research groups that are largely clinical but also want to incorporate the fly model into their research.”

A quick look at the website FlyBase gives a picture of the myriad ways in which the humble fruit fly is contributing to medical science. ̽��ֱ��Cambridge branch of FlyBase is headed by Professor Nick Brown who also leads a research lab in the Gurdon Institute.

̽��ֱ��Brown Lab uses Drosophila to investigate how bodies are built and how, during the development of an organism, cells attach to each other by means of ‘cell adhesion’. ̽��ֱ��processes which determine the growth of an adult organism from a single cell, the fertilised egg, are extremely complex and involve receptors known as ‘integrins’. By understanding the ways in which ‘faults’ can occur in fruit flies, the group will be able to contribute to the development of treatments for human conditions such as skin blistering diseases, muscular dystrophies and aberrant blood clotting.

A lab headed by Professor Steve Russell is investigating the genes that control the activity of other genes, particularly a group called ‘Sox genes’. These types of genes are important in both humans and flies as they often control the behaviour of tissues by regulating the particular set of genes active in each cell. ̽��ֱ��Russell lab is looking particularly at development of the central nervous system and gonads. These are just two of many groups using Drosophila as a model in research.

A side room at the Fly Lab is set aside for Sang Chan, the Lab’s Microinjection Specialist. He injects fly eggs with DNA so that researchers can produce gene mutations in flies that will enable them to track the functional effects of genes – and thus identify the genes regulating the production of particular protein configurations or the behaviour of other genes.

Looking through a powerful microscope, he uses an instrument called a ‘micromanipulator’ to push a needle into a fly egg about 0.5mm in length (roughly the size of a coarse grain of sand) in order to inject DNA roughly equivalent in volume to a millionth of a drop of water. It took Chan six months to acquire the fine motor skills needed to carry out this delicate task with reliable accuracy.

Running the Fly Lab is a round-the-clock enterprise that requires constant attention to detail. ̽��ֱ��storage units are kept at a constant temperature of 25 degrees, the temperature at which Drosophila thrive best. Double doors and other precautions prevent flies from escaping: many are transgenic and, as such, considered a potential ecological hazard. ̽��ֱ��Lab has strict hygiene regulations designed to keep the presence of mites (which live on fruit flies) to a minimum.

“More is known about the biology of Drosophila than possibly any other animal on earth. For this reason alone, I expect that Drosophila will remain a vital model organism for many decades to come. ̽��ֱ��short generation time, relatively simple genome and ease of culture are as useful today as they were in Thomas Morgan’s time,” says Collier. “Our increasingly molecular and cellular perspective on human disease has brought medical research to a level where humans and flies are understood to be remarkably similar and means the fly can be an effective model for human disease.”

Next in the Cambridge Animal Alphabet: G is for the world's second fastest animal, which flanks the escutcheons of King's College Chapel and is playing an important role in research into treatments for osteosarcoma.

Inset images: D. melanogaster dorsal open wings (Sylwester Chyb and Nicolas Gompel); Actin cables in Drosophila nurse cells during late-oogenesis. At this stage, nurse cells die and extrude their cytoplasm into the developing oocyte. This process is required for viable eggs to develop. Cyan = DNA (DAPI), highlighting the nuclei; Magenta = Actin (Phalloidin), highlighting enrichments of Actin that form across the cells (Tim Weil and Anna York-Andersen, Weil Lab); Drosophila embryo - the large stripe that you see along the centre of the embryo is the developing nervous system and subsets of neurones have been labelled in green (Holly Ironfield and Eva Higginbotham).

The Cambridge Animal Alphabet series celebrates Cambridge's connections with animals through literature, art, science and society. Here, F is for Fruit Fly and the myriad ways that they are helping with medical research.

More is known about the biology of Drosophila than possibly any other animal on earth. I expect that Drosophila will remain a vital model organism for many decades to come.

Simon Collier

Tim Weil and Anna York-Andersen, Weil Lab

̽��ֱ��reproductive machinery of Drosophila melanogaster. Two ovaries (upper right) connected by the oviduct.

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Scientists wake up to causes of sleep disruption in Alzheimer’s disease

fpjl2 — Thu, 27 Feb 2014 10:10:58 +0000

Being awake at night and dozing during the day can be a distressing early symptom of Alzheimer's disease, but how the disease disrupts our biological clocks to cause these symptoms has remained elusive.

Now, scientists from Cambridge have discovered that in fruit flies with Alzheimer's the biological clock is still ticking but has become uncoupled from the sleep-wake cycle it usually regulates. ̽��ֱ��findings – published in Disease Models & Mechanisms – could help develop more effective ways to improve sleep patterns in people with the disease.

People with Alzheimer's often have poor biological rhythms, something that is a burden for both patients and their carers. Periods of sleep become shorter and more fragmented, resulting in periods of wakefulness at night and snoozing during the day. They can also become restless and agitated in the late afternoon and early evening, something known as 'sundowning'.

Biological clocks go hand in hand with life, and are found in everything from single celled organisms to fruit flies and humans. They are vital because they allow organisms to synchronise their biology to the day-night changes in their environments.

Until now, however, it has been unclear how Alzheimer's disrupts the biological clock. According to Dr Damian Crowther of Cambridge's Department of Genetics, one of the study's authors: "We wanted to know whether people with Alzheimer's disease have a poor behavioural rhythm because they have a clock that's stopped ticking or they have stopped responding to the clock."

̽��ֱ��team worked with fruit flies – a key species for studying Alzheimer's. Evidence suggests that the A-beta peptide, a protein, is behind at least the initial stages of the disease in humans. This has been replicated in fruit flies by introducing the human gene that produces this peptide.

Taking a group of healthy flies and a group with this feature of Alzheimer's, the researchers studied sleep-wake patterns in the flies, and how well their biological clocks were working.

They measured sleep-wake patterns by fitting a small infrared beam, similar to movement sensors in burglar alarms, to the glass tubes housing the flies. When the flies were awake and moving, they broke the beam and these breaks in the beam were counted and recorded.

To study the flies' biological clocks, the researchers attached the protein luciferase – an enzyme that emits light – to one of the proteins that forms part of the biological clock. Levels of the protein rise and fall during the night and day, and the glowing protein provided a way of tracing the flies' internal clock.

"This lets us see the brain glowing brighter at night and less during the day, and that's the biological clock shown as a glowing brain. It's beautiful to be able to study first hand in the same organism the molecular working of the clock and the corresponding behaviours," Dr Crowther said.

They found that healthy flies were active during the day and slept at night, whereas those with Alzheimer's sleep and wake randomly. Crucially, however, the diurnal patterns of the luciferase-tagged protein were the same in both healthy and diseased flies, showing that the biological clock still ticks in flies with Alzheimer's.

"Until now, the prevailing view was that Alzheimer's destroyed the biological clock," said Crowther.

"What we have shown in flies with Alzheimer's is that the clock is still ticking but is being ignored by other parts of the brain and body that govern behaviour. If we can understand this, it could help us develop new therapies to tackle sleep disturbances in people with Alzheimer's."

Dr Simon Ridley, Head of Research at Alzheimer's Research UK, who helped to fund the study, said: "Understanding the biology behind distressing symptoms like sleep problems is important to guide the development of new approaches to manage or treat them. This study sheds more light on the how features of Alzheimer's can affect the molecular mechanisms controlling sleep-wake cycles in flies.

"We hope these results can guide further studies in people to ensure that progress is made for the half a million people in the UK with the disease."

New research using fruit flies with Alzheimer’s protein finds that the disease doesn’t stop the biological clock ticking, but detaches it from the sleep-wake cycle that it usually regulates. Findings could lead to more effective ways to improve sleep patterns in those with Alzheimer’s.

We have shown in flies with Alzheimer's that the clock is still ticking but being ignored by other parts of the brain

Damian Crowther

Dr. Stanislav Ott

̽��ֱ��fly brain is half a millimeter across and contains approximately 100,000 nerve cells (green). ̽��ֱ��A-beta peptide forms plaques (red) that are linked to nerve cell death and behavioral abnormalities in the flies.

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On the fly: African summer school on insect neuroscience

lw355 — Fri, 26 Apr 2013 09:41:47 +0000

When Cambridge PhD student Lucia Prieto Godino met Professor Sadiq Yusuf, a Nigerian scientist from the Kampala International ̽��ֱ�� in Uganda, she learned that most neuroscientists in Africa use rats as a model system – and the seed of an idea was planted.

“Rats are expensive model organisms with very limited accessibility to genetic manipulation. Drosophila, however, are easy and inexpensive to breed and maintain in the lab, and the wealth of genetic tools available for the study of the brain makes it an attractive model organism used by many scientists in the West,” she explained. “But without training, it can seem a major step for researchers to change to this approach.”

Now, Dr Prieto Godino (currently a postdoctoral researcher at the ̽��ֱ�� of Lausanne) and scientists from several European universities are gearing up to hold their third summer school in Uganda to help early career scientists learn how to work with flies. To date, 34 scientists from six African countries have taken part in the three-week, hands-on programme that combines both theoretical and laboratory sessions.

One participant said: “This course changed my attitude towards almost everything in science; actually I can say this course serve as an eye opener to us.” Another said: “I will carry the knowledge I have gained in the course of the workshop to other places.”

Crucial to the course’s successful organisation was the presence of a local committee in Uganda led by Sadiq Yusuf, together with fundraising by Prieto Godino to pay for the shipping of donated equipment and reagents to Africa and full scholarships for course participants. Additionally, researchers from several European universities, including Cambridge zoologists Professor Mike Bate and Dr Berthold Hedwig, have volunteered to teach at the summer school, which is now supported by the International Brain Research Organization.

“As the three weeks of the first course progressed, we realised how much of a difference could be made over there, and we decided to found an NGO to formalise and channel our future efforts in improving higher education and research in Africa. In January of 2012, with Sadiq as our African partner, we founded ‘TReND in Africa’, which stands for Teaching and Research in Neuroscience for Development in Africa,” said Prieto Godino.

TReND in Africa co-founder Dr Tom Baden, who along with Prieto Godino was a PhD student in the Department of Zoology and is now at the ̽��ֱ�� of Tübingen, said: “In TReND in Africa, we aim to provide young African university graduates with the global perspective on science and society that we have enjoyed all our lives thanks to the privilege of going through a Western education system.”

̽��ֱ��summer school is still one of the main activities developed by TReND in Africa, but activities are rapidly diversifying. Current projects include furnishing labs in Africa and supporting the development of the first MSc course in Neuroscience in Uganda in collaboration between the Kampala International ̽��ֱ��.

TReND in Africa shares ideology and collaborates with the Cambridge in Africa programme, which views strengthening of Africa’s indigenous scientific research base as crucial to the identification of its disease control and public health priorities, and to the discovery of appropriate solutions.

“Providing higher education and research capacity building locally in Africa is essential for the development of its societies,” Prieto Godino added. “It empowers the local production of knowledge and the capability of addressing local problems and challenges in a more adequate and cost-effective manner.”

A programme created by Cambridge researchers is teaching African scientists how insects can be powerful yet inexpensive model systems in neuroscientific research.

This course changed my attitude towards almost everything in science.

Summer school participant

TReND in Africa

Summer school participant

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World first for fly research

ljm67 — Fri, 15 Feb 2013 14:15:15 +0000

̽��ֱ��first ever basic training package to teach students and scientists how to best use the fruit fly, Drosophila, for research has been published. It’s hoped it will encourage more researchers working on a range of conditions from cancer to Alzheimer’s disease to use the humble fly.

̽��ֱ��unique scheme has been put together by Dr Andreas Prokop from the Faculty of Life Sciences at the ̽��ֱ�� of Manchester and John Roote from the Department of Genetics at the ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge.

John Roote said, “In 1910 Thomas Hunt Morgan isolated the first Drosophila sex-linked mutation, white. Since then many thousands of research workers have realised the potential of the humble fruit fly.

“ ̽��ֱ��powerful research tools that we have today combined with a century of background knowledge, the vast collections of stocks that are available to everyone and the fortuitous ‘pre-adaptation’ of the fly for life in a laboratory ensure that Drosophila melanogaster maintains its position as the pre-eminent model organism for research in genetics. However, until now a comprehensive teaching programme to guide students through the often daunting first few steps has been surprisingly absent.”

Dr Prokop said: “People don’t realise just how useful the tiny fruit fly can be when it comes to research. Fellow scientists are often not aware of their genetic value for research. For example, about 75% of known human disease genes have a recognisable match in the genome of fruit flies which means they can be used to study the fundamental biology behind complex conditions such as epilepsy or neurodegeneration.”

Fruit flies have been used for scientific research for more than a hundred years. They have allowed scientific breakthroughs in genetics, body structure and function. ̽��ֱ��first jet lag gene and the first learning gene were identified in flies as well as breakthroughs in neuroscience, such as the discovery of the first channel proteins.

Dr Prokop says: “Flies need very little space so are ideal for breeding. They develop in just two weeks and it is a simple process to follow a genetic mutation through the generations by analysing the patterns on their bristles, wings or eyes which provide easy visible markers.”

Despite the flies’ contribution to scientific research through the ages, including four Nobel prizes, there is a concern that fewer scientists are aware of their potential. Part of the reason for this has been a trend away from basic genetics training in schools and universities which makes it harder for newcomers to the fly.

Together with John Roote, the manager of the main Cambridge fly facility, Dr Prokop has developed a four part training package for all scientists. It includes a self-study introductory manual, a short practical session on gender and marker selection, an interactive Powerpoint presentation and finally an independent training exercise in mating scheme design.

Dr Prokop says it’s a well rounded package: “We wanted to make sure that key aspects of fly research become apparent to the newcomer right away, such as a basic appreciation of why Drosophila is used for research, the nature of the fly stocks we use, an understanding of classical genetic rules and the knowledge of the nature and use of classical genetic markers but also the use of modern transgenic technologies.”

He continues: “We’ve had a really good response from people who’ve tested the training package and we’re confident this will encourage more scientists to consider using the fruit fly in the future.”

To access the training package, you can go to the following link: http://figshare.com/articles/How_to_design_a_genetic_mating_scheme_a_bas...

A paper outlining the package has been published in the February edition of the journal G3.

Story adapted from ̽��ֱ�� of Manchester press release.

A how-to manual for fruit fly research has been created.

Until now a comprehensive teaching programme to guide students through the often daunting first few steps has been surprisingly absent

John Roote

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