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Drosophila melanogaster.
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With a little help from our (insect) friends
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Nobel Laureates often are united in the belief that they could not have achieved great things alone. In their lectures and speeches, they thank their family, friends, mentors, patients, colleagues … and not just the human ones. The Drosophila fruit fly, for example, a fly you most probably have encountered in your own kitchen, have a long association with humans. Drosophila melanogaster is used in laboratories around the world and has been integral to the work of many Nobel Laureates. |
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One of the pioneers to see its potential was Thomas Hunt Morgan, who was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1933. He was dissatisfied with genetic theories developing in the first decade of the twentieth century and wanted to discover how traits were inherited. Funding for basic research was tight, so he searched for an animal that could be studied cheaply. Drosophila provided the answer.
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The early work of Morgan paved the way for later breakthroughs, and the power of Drosophila grew as more mutations were discovered. For Medicine Laureate Jules Hoffmann, mutant flies allowed him to explore activation of the innate immune system. In his lecture ‘My Scientific Story: Innate Immunity, from Flies to Humans’ he tells the remarkable story of how basic research on a fly has opened up new avenues for the prevention and treatment of infections, cancer and inflammatory diseases. Watch Jules Hoffmann’s lecture |
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“I immediately loved working with flies”
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Christiane Nüsslein-Volhard. Photo from the Nobel Foundation archive.
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“I immediately loved working with flies. They fascinated me, and followed me around in my dreams.” Medicine Laureate Christiane Nüsslein-Volhard studied the development of fruit flies and around 1980 she and co-laureate Eric Wieschaus succeeded in identifying and classifying the 15 genes that direct the cells to form a new fly. She even addressed the little fly in her Nobel Banquet speech. Read Christiane Nüsslein-Volhard’s speech |
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“The key fourth awardee here is, as some of us call them, the little fly”
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Jeffrey Hall. Photo: A. Mahmoud.
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The remarkable similarity between the fruit fly and humans was also revealed by the work of the 2017 Nobel Laureates in Physiology or Medicine. Jeffrey Hall, Michael Rosbash and Michael Young used Drosophila to uncover molecular mechanisms controlling the circadian rhythm. When Jeffrey Hall was interviewed following the announcement of the prize, he appointed a fourth awardee. Watch or read the interview |
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“You could use the fly and find out answers”
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Michael Young. Photo: A. Mahmoud.
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The discoveries of the 2017 Medicine Laureates explain how living organisms synchronise their biological rhythm with the turning of the Earth. Using fruit flies as a model organism, they isolated a gene that controls the normal daily biological rhythm. They also found out that the same clock system that applies to the fruit fly applies all the way to humans. Read more about this research in Michael Young’s biography |
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With a little help from my friends
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‘With a little help from my friends’ is the title of a Beatles song. During the years, only one singer-songwriter has been awarded a Nobel Prize. Do you know whom? Make a guess and click to submit your answer.
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