Workshop on ‘Drosophila as a Research Model’

Aligarh : Subject experts are providing the undergraduate and postgraduate students of the Department of Zoology, Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) with hands-on-training on using the fruit fly for research in the on-going Science and Engineering Research Board (SERB) Department of Science and Technology (DST) sponsored National workshop on ‘Drosophila as a Research Model’ that began on November 1.

“It is ideal to use the fruit fly or Drosophila for the study of genetics and development. The relationship between fruit fly and human genes is so close that often the sequences of newly discovered human genes, including disease genes, can be matched with equivalent genes in the fly,” said the Chief Guest of the inaugural function, Dr M Vishnu Vardhana Rao (Director, Indian Council of Medical Research-ICMR), National Institute of Medical Statistics-NIMS, New Delhi).

He also spoke on the importance of using biostatistics in biological and medical research and released the Laboratory Manual of the National workshop.

Discussing the importance of the workshop, Prof Mohammad Afzal (Dean, Faculty of Life Sciences and Chairperson, Department of Zoology) said that most of the genes that cause disease in humans are also found in the fruit fly.

He outlined achievements of faculty members and research scholars of the Faculty of Life Sciences and the Department of Zoology and spoke about the highly cited AMU Zoology researchers.

In the welcome address, Prof Mukhtar Ahmad Khan (Organizing Chairman) talked about the long history of research devoted to the study of the fruit fly.

Dr Yasir Hasan Siddique (Organizing Secretary) said that a short life cycle allowing for large quantities of flies to be produced within a short period, minimal culturing requirements, genetic factors and anatomical features among other markers make the fruit fly an ideal model organism.

He further said that workshops on cutting-edge research are the top priority of the University administration.