Imaginative work on fruitflies to study Alzheimer’s disease wins 2006 Westminster Medal
3 April 2006
Scientists from the Medical Research Council Functional Genetics Unit (FGU) in Oxford and the Cambridge Institute for Medical Research (CIMR) have been hailed as two of the UK’s top young scientists after being awarded the 2006 Westminster Medal.
The MRC’s Dr Christopher Mee joined forces with Richard Page (CIMR) to create a presentation about their collaborative research work on ‘The Alzheimer’s Fly: A model organism for the study of Alzheimer’s disease.’ The young scientists were awarded the Westminster Medal at the annual Science Week reception at the House of Commons, an event that features displays of research work by more than 150 of Britain’s leading younger scientists, engineers and technologists.
Alzheimer’s disease is an irreversible neurodegenerative disorder. It results in deterioration of brain function and memory, as well as changes in personality and behaviour. It is the leading cause of dementia worldwide and, as people live longer in the UK, the disease is becoming more common.
To explore the mechanism of neurodegeneration, they have developed a model of Alzheimer’s disease by expressing human amyloid peptides, which are abundant in the brains of human patients, in the fruitfly. As a model organism, the fruitfly has the distinct advantages of a short life cycle, providing a reliable time-scale for studying neurodegeneration and a well-characterised genome with significant similarities to our own. The long term goal is to use the fly to develop new therapies for Alzheimer’s disease.
Professor David Sattelle, Head of Neural Signalling at MRC Functional Genetics Unit, said: “I am excited by the pace at which we can make progress using invertebrate models of Alzheimer’s disease. Understanding the functional changes that neurons undergo in the early stages of this disease is a very important step in developing new therapies for this major neurodegenerative condition.”
Medal-winning Dr Mee is a post-doctoral researcher in Professor David Sattelle's group and has been looking at the workings of nerve cells, including ones which are particularly vulnerable in Alzheimer’s disease.
Dr Mee said: “We have pursued studies on model organisms for the excellent scientific opportunities they can offer and the potential future benefits for human health. It is an added bonus that the work has been recognised in this way. The excellent collaboration between the two laboratories has greatly accelerated our progress.”
