Fruit flies in research

You may have seen these tiny flies buzzing around fruit in your kitchen but we also use them in the lab to study how different toxins might affect our bodies.

Fruit flies and humans share around 75% of disease-causing genes so we can understand how different drugs may affect our neurons or our guts or many other cells by studying what happens in flies. They are cheap to look after and grow from an egg to an adult in only a few days which makes them a great model.

Design by Amrita Mukherjee

Martins lab

Mitochondria and cell death regulation following toxic injury

We are investigating the cellular and molecular mechanisms that mitochondria use, as signalling hubs, for coping with toxic insults. To achieve our goals, we combine a series of approaches, including data analysis using computational tools, cultured cells and Drosophila as an in vivo model system.

Find out more about the lab

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