Fruit fly steps in to fight human disease
Monday, June 22, 2009 - 17:56
in Biology & Nature
Belgian scientists have successfully introduced genes coding for a variant of the Charcot-Marie-Tooth (CMT) disease, into fruit flies. CMT is one of the most common hereditary disorders of the peripheral nervous system. VIB research -- directed by Albena Jordanova, Patrick Callaerts and Vincent Timmerman -- shows that the flies recapitulate several symptoms of the human disease.