Master gene controls healing of skin in fruit flies and mammals
University of California, San Diego biologists and their colleagues have discovered that the genetic system controlling the development and repair of insect cuticle--the outer layer of the body surface in insects--also controls these processes in mammalian skin, a finding that could lead to new insights into the healing of wounds and treatment of cancer. The UCSD biologists' study, publish...Remote control flies? Fly behavior controlled by laser light
Yale University School of Medicine researchers have found a way to exercise a little mind control over fruit flies, making the flies jump, beat their wings, and fly on command by triggering genetic "remote controls" that the scientists designed and installed in the insects' central nervous systems, accordi...UI researcher studies deafness in fruit flies, humans
University of Iowa Biological Sciences Professor Daniel F. Eberl and his colleagues at Duke University have uncovered genetic defects leading to deafness in fruit flies that may shed light on deafness in humans. Their research paper, "Myosin VIIA Defects, which Underlie the Usher 1B Syndrome in Humans, Lead to Deafness in Drosophila," is scheduled for publication in the May 10 issue of the journa...How monarch butterflies are wired for navigation
In their extraordinary annual migration from North America to Mexico, monarch butterflies are known to use the angle of polarized sunlight as a celestial guide to help them keep to a straight and true path southward. But details of their navigational machinery have remained a mystery. Now, researchers, led by Steven Reppert of University of Massachusetts Medical School, Ivo Sauman of the C...Gap-climbing fruit flies reveal components of goal-driven behaviors
Like humans, other animals are faced with everyday obstacles in their physical environments and must engage appropriate decision-making and motor skills to deal with them. Navigating these obstacles can involve highly complex events in mammals and other vertebrates, but in new work, researchers have employed an ingenious obstacle-based system for studying the control and structure of goal-oriente...Research on fruit flies opens up possibilities for human treatments
The study, authored by researchers including UW-Madison molecular ge...Bio-Logic Systems, another Midwest life-science firm, flies under the radar
Though many Midwest life science companies are well known, often a number of them are flying under the rad...Fireflies help speed development of new drugs
The glow that fireflies are famous for, are due to a glow molecule present in their bodies. This glow molecule is now helping illuminate the effectiveness of new medicines and speed up the development of new drugs for various diseases like AIDS,// Alzheimer's, Cancer and others. A study was carried out by researchers of the University of Michigan Health System who inserted the gene whi...British Women Flies to India for Treatment of Breast Cancer
A breast cancer patient made the journey from London to India in order to save money on her anti cancer medication-Herceptin.// India is likely to attract more such patients as there are considerable cost saving both for surgical procedures and medication.Fifty-year-old Linda Vijeh went to a private hospital in Pune for a mastectomy and reconstruction surgery done on October 4 and is no...Effect of Prolonged Stay in Space Studied Using Fruit Flies
Recently a study was conducted by the researchers at the University of Central Florida and University of California, Davis, to understand the effect of prolonged stays// in space and how it affects the astronauts' health. Hence they studied the effect by using Fruit flies aboard the Space Shuttle Discovery. The flies will need little care during their 12-day stay aboard the shuttle, w...Site of Sleep Regulation Identified in Fruit Flies
Site of the brain responsible for sleep regulation has been identified in fruit flies. This area which was previously known for its role in learning and memory will help to further the study on sleep regulation and its role in memory. // The research was conducted by scientists at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. Despite its importance in everyday human function, very l...Run Amok Enzyme Causes Same Problems in Both Humans and Fruit Flies
An enzyme found at elevated levels in several human cancers has been linked to abnormal tumor growth in fruit flies//, a discovery that provides a new model for understanding the link between stem cell biology and cancer, according to researchers. Using fluorescent staining and laser-scanning microscopy, the eight-member research team studied various mutations in a gene called aurora-A...