{"id":25758,"date":"2025-11-06T15:55:42","date_gmt":"2025-11-06T20:55:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/news\/?post_type=story&p=25758"},"modified":"2025-12-04T15:37:51","modified_gmt":"2025-12-04T20:37:51","slug":"what-can-our-genetic-cousins-teach-us","status":"publish","type":"story","link":"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/news\/2025\/11\/06\/what-can-our-genetic-cousins-teach-us\/","title":{"rendered":"What can our genetic cousins teach us?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n

Fruit fly research seeks to unlock the mysteries of disease<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

You might call it the noble \u2014 or Nobel \u2014 fruit fly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 1933, Thomas Hunt Morgan won the Nobel Prize for uncovering the role that chromosomes play in heredity. His discovery arose from his experiments with Drosophila melanogaster <\/em>in \u201cThe Fly Room,\u201d his Columbia University lab now considered the birthplace of modern genetics research.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It wasn\u2019t until 2000 that the Drosophila melanogaster<\/em> genome sequence was published. Subsequent research clarified that fruit flies share over 60 percent of genes with humans, making them ideal model organisms for studying mutations that contribute to cancer, diabetes, Alzheimer\u2019s, Parkinson\u2019s, and other diseases. It\u2019s easy, quick, and inexpensive to breed multiple generations of fruit flies in the lab \u2014 10 days for one generation, from egg to larvae to adult.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe function of the majority of genes has been conserved for some 250 million years since the last common ancestor of flies and humans. You might not think it, but their genomes are quite similar to ours,\u201d Clark geneticist Justin Thackeray<\/a> says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOne of the great things about fruit flies, is that over the last century, we have isolated a slew of important new genetic tools to study how their genes work,\u201d he adds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since Morgan\u2019s Nobel, 10 more scientists have won the prize for their fruit fly-based advances in genomic and developmental research.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And over the past several years, Thackeray, a professor in the Biology Department<\/a>, has hosted undergraduate and graduate students in his lab to contribute to this collective, ongoing field of research. They study the PLC-gamma protein, which plays an important role in controlling when cells grow or divide. Overactivity in PLC-gamma, Thackeray explains, contributes to about \u201c50 percent of breast and prostate cancers, each of which is the No. 1 cancer type in females and males.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Because of this connection, Thackeray and his students \u2014 who currently include biology major Isabelle Speiser \u201925, M.A. \u201926, and biochemistry and molecular biology majors Nicole Steele \u201927 and Lily Vincent \u201927 \u2014 seek to identify an inhibitor drug that can successfully block overactive PLC-gamma. They are using CRISPR-Cas9, a technology allowing them to \u201cedit\u201d the DNA sequence of Drosophila melanogaster<\/em> and recreate activating mutations found in human tumors.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Isabelle
Isabelle Speiser \u201925, M.A.\u2019 26, works in Professor Justin Thackeray\u2019s lab. (Photos by Steven King)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"Professor
Professor Justin Thackeray meets with, from left, biology major Isabelle Speiser \u201925, M.A.\u2019 26, and biochemistry and molecular biology majors Nicole Steele \u201927 and Lily Vincent \u201927.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Several years ago, Mariah Torcivia \u201920, M.A. \u201921, was working in Thackeray\u2019s lab and made an important discovery: a few flies with the one of their CRISPR edits had \u201ca weird defect in one of their wing veins,\u201d he recalls. Because the wing defect \u2014 an incomplete posterior cross vein \u2014 is easy to observe, Thackeray\u2019s current student researchers are using it to identify a novel PLC-gamma inhibitor drug.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At this fall\u2019s ClarkFEST<\/a>, the biannual undergraduate research event, Steele and Vincent, who also are cross country<\/a> teammates, explained their research over the past 1-1\/2 years. \u200aTo study the wing defect, they insert a PLC-gamma containing a transgene, X10 (a gene that is artificially introduced), into fruit flies, breeding them with others to generate a strain of flies with multiple copies of X10 on chromosome 3. Besides the wing defect, they also are studying another phenotype \u2014 a trait arising from an organism\u2019s genetic makeup \u2014 in their line of fruit flies: extra R7 photoreceptor cells in the insects\u2019 compound eyes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Lily
\u201cWe have some exciting new fly lines that we\u2019re looking at as well as developing and starting a drug-screening protocol,\u201d says Lily Vincent \u201927, a biochemistry and molecular biology major and member of the cross-country team (above, presenting at ClarkFEST).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The Thackeray Lab\u2019s genome editing of fruit flies mimics \u201cthe same PLC-gamma [protein] activating mutation found commonly in patients with human T-cell leukemia,\u201d according to Steele and Vincent\u2019s poster presentation. They hope that with this activating mutation, as well as extra copies of the normal protein via X10, they will create a more prominent wing vein phenotype that can be used to look for novel drugs that block the activated PLC-gamma. This would be an important discovery \u2014 there are currently no drugs that specifically target this protein.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The work can be disappointing when the fly strains don\u2019t advance the researchers\u2019 goals, Vincent says. \u201cBut we\u2019re going to keep going. We have some exciting new fly lines that we\u2019re looking at as well as developing and starting a drug-screening protocol.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Funded last summer by a Penn Family Research Fellowship, Steele says she and Vincent have learned a lot working in Thackeray\u2019s lab. \u201cHe\u2019s good at explaining things in a way that we can understand it. And if we make a mistake, he looks at that as a learning opportunity.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Research is an ongoing process and takes patience, Thackeray concurs. Most scientific discoveries happen in fits and starts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou feel like you\u2019re making absolutely no progress at all for long periods, and in some cases, you aren’t,\u201d he says. \u201cBut then suddenly, you\u2019ve figured it out.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Nicole
Professor Justin Thackeray is \u201cgood at explaining things in a way that we can understand it,\u201d says Nicole Steele \u201927, a biochemistry and molecular biology major and member of the cross-country team. Her summer research was funded by a Penn Family Research Fellowship.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Fruit fly research seeks to unlock the mysteries of disease<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":25771,"template":"","meta":{"story_color":"var(--clarku-color-deep-red)","story_headerImg":25771,"section_label":"","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[227],"displayed_author":[242],"featured":[493],"topic":[162],"class_list":["post-25758","story","type-story","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-science-technology","displayed_author-meredith-woodward-king","featured-primary","topic-research"],"yoast_head":"\nWhat can our genetic cousins teach us? | ClarkU News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/news\/2025\/11\/06\/what-can-our-genetic-cousins-teach-us\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"What can our genetic cousins teach us?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Fruit fly research seeks to unlock the mysteries of disease\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/news\/2025\/11\/06\/what-can-our-genetic-cousins-teach-us\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"ClarkU News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-12-04T20:37:51+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/37\/Fruit-fly.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2560\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1702\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.clarku.edu\\\/news\\\/2025\\\/11\\\/06\\\/what-can-our-genetic-cousins-teach-us\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.clarku.edu\\\/news\\\/2025\\\/11\\\/06\\\/what-can-our-genetic-cousins-teach-us\\\/\",\"name\":\"What can our genetic cousins teach us? | ClarkU News\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.clarku.edu\\\/news\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.clarku.edu\\\/news\\\/2025\\\/11\\\/06\\\/what-can-our-genetic-cousins-teach-us\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.clarku.edu\\\/news\\\/2025\\\/11\\\/06\\\/what-can-our-genetic-cousins-teach-us\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.clarku.edu\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/37\\\/Fruit-fly-scaled.avif\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-11-06T20:55:42+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-12-04T20:37:51+00:00\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.clarku.edu\\\/news\\\/2025\\\/11\\\/06\\\/what-can-our-genetic-cousins-teach-us\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.clarku.edu\\\/news\\\/2025\\\/11\\\/06\\\/what-can-our-genetic-cousins-teach-us\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.clarku.edu\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/37\\\/Fruit-fly-scaled.avif\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.clarku.edu\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/37\\\/Fruit-fly-scaled.avif\",\"width\":2560,\"height\":1702,\"caption\":\"Drosophila melanogaster, or fruit fly (photo by Steven King)\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.clarku.edu\\\/news\\\/wp-json\\\/wp\\\/v2\\\/story\\\/25758#breadcrumbs\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":0,\"name\":\"ClarkU\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.clarku.edu\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"ClarkU News\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.clarku.edu\\\/news\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Stories\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.clarku.edu\\\/news\\\/wp-json\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"Stories\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.clarku.edu\\\/news\\\/wp-json\\\/wp\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":4,\"name\":\"Stories\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.clarku.edu\\\/news\\\/wp-json\\\/wp\\\/v2\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":5,\"name\":\"Stories\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.clarku.edu\\\/news\\\/wp-json\\\/wp\\\/v2\\\/story\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":6,\"name\":\"Stories\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.clarku.edu\\\/news\\\/wp-json\\\/wp\\\/v2\\\/story\\\/25758\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.clarku.edu\\\/news\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.clarku.edu\\\/news\\\/\",\"name\":\"ClarkU News\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.clarku.edu\\\/news\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"What can our genetic cousins teach us? | ClarkU News","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/news\/2025\/11\/06\/what-can-our-genetic-cousins-teach-us\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"What can our genetic cousins teach us?","og_description":"Fruit fly research seeks to unlock the mysteries of disease","og_url":"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/news\/2025\/11\/06\/what-can-our-genetic-cousins-teach-us\/","og_site_name":"ClarkU News","article_modified_time":"2025-12-04T20:37:51+00:00","og_image":[{"width":2560,"height":1702,"url":"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/37\/Fruit-fly.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/news\/2025\/11\/06\/what-can-our-genetic-cousins-teach-us\/","url":"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/news\/2025\/11\/06\/what-can-our-genetic-cousins-teach-us\/","name":"What can our genetic cousins teach us? | ClarkU News","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/news\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/news\/2025\/11\/06\/what-can-our-genetic-cousins-teach-us\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/news\/2025\/11\/06\/what-can-our-genetic-cousins-teach-us\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/37\/Fruit-fly-scaled.avif","datePublished":"2025-11-06T20:55:42+00:00","dateModified":"2025-12-04T20:37:51+00:00","inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/news\/2025\/11\/06\/what-can-our-genetic-cousins-teach-us\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/news\/2025\/11\/06\/what-can-our-genetic-cousins-teach-us\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/37\/Fruit-fly-scaled.avif","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/37\/Fruit-fly-scaled.avif","width":2560,"height":1702,"caption":"Drosophila melanogaster, or fruit fly (photo by Steven King)"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/story\/25758#breadcrumbs","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":0,"name":"ClarkU","item":"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"ClarkU News","item":"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/news"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Stories","item":"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/news\/wp-json"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Stories","item":"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":4,"name":"Stories","item":"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":5,"name":"Stories","item":"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/story"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":6,"name":"Stories","item":"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/story\/25758"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/news\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/news\/","name":"ClarkU News","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/news\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"}]}},"fimg_url":"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/37\/Fruit-fly-1024x681.avif","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/story\/25758","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/story"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/story"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/story\/25758\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26211,"href":"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/story\/25758\/revisions\/26211"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25771"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25758"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25758"},{"taxonomy":"displayed_author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/displayed_author?post=25758"},{"taxonomy":"featured","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/featured?post=25758"},{"taxonomy":"topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/topic?post=25758"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}