Swatting flies

Swatting flies: modelling wound healing and inflammation in Drosophila

Aberrant wound healing can lead to a variety of human pathologies, from non-healing chronic wounds that can become dangerously infected, to exuberant fibrotic healing in which repair is accompanied by excessive inflammation. To guide therapeutic intervention, we need a better understanding of the fundamental mechanisms driving tissue repair; this will require complementary wound-healing studies...

On swatting moths and rearing children.

Chasing flies because time flies.

that the authors conclude that Drosophila can be used as an instrumental model to elucidate the role of immune response as regulators of neuroprotection. In addition to Drosophila , much has been learnt from studying the zebrafish (Danio rerio) , appearing as an early vertebrate during evolution. The zebrafish has become an important organism for exploring defense mechanisms in innate immune re...

Peacock flies

A quick guide on peacock flies, a species of insect where, unusually, both males and females perform dances apparently to attract mates.

Asymmetric flies

What are the sources of phenotypic variation and which factors shape this variation are fundamental questions of developmental and evolutionary biology. Despite this simple formulation and intense research, controversy remains. Three points are particularly discussed: (1) whether adaptive developmental mechanisms buffering variation exist at all; (2) if yes, do they involve specific genes and p...