The Dhaka Times Desk If you ask who are the superstars of science, everyone will answer, scientists. But in reality it is not, the superstar of the world of science is not a person.
These superstars of science are flies! How did such a small insect get the title of superstar! 6-time Nobel laureate who can be given the title of superstar without this fly! By researching this three millimeter long fly, scientists have brought home 6-6 Nobel prizes. This credit can only be given to flies. Even with 30 times less DNA, this fly gene has captivated researchers. The reason is that although there is less DNA, the DNA of flies is about 60 percent similar to that of humans. Using this similarity, flies are being used in the research of complex diseases such as cancer!
Recently, the 'Francis Crick Institute' of London has started a huge research project on flies. Where the institute is named after the discoverer of the DNA model, there is no doubt that any DNA or genetic work will be done. There has been work done with the DNA of flies. Although flies may seem like harmless little creatures, fly swatters are nothing less than elephant swatters. The flies had to be taken care of by expert staff. The institute has about 1.5 million flies with 8,000 different genetic traits. The advantage of working with flies is that they grow much faster than mice or any other animal. So the research work can be done quickly.
One of the characteristics of cancer cells is that their genes change very quickly. This change is called mutation. Researchers at the Francis Crick Institute have artificially induced mutations in flies. For which they have first done breeding between different species of flies. Then, the modified or mutated gene was inserted into the eggs of the flies with the help of a special type of fine needle. The work was so sensitive that the entire process had to be done under a powerful microscope. The researchers constantly monitor the flies, which can easily detect changes due to genetic changes. Fluorescent tags were used for easy detection. If the mutated gene remains in the flies, the flies will glow under UV light. In this way, the concerned scientists are trying to find out how to deal with this change in the case of cancer after seeing the gene changes.
Researching flies from mice yields results very quickly. Crick Institute scientists use computers to get results faster. Virtually they have created tumors and are making hundreds of drugs against those tumors. With the help of simulation, machine learning and artificial intelligence, they are seeing on the computer screen how the drugs also work against the tumor. However, real tumors are more complex than virtual tumors. So it is important to get the right drug. Therefore, the digital research data has been sent to the laboratory for testing on animals. Digital medicine is tested in reality to see how well it works in the human body.
# Author: Mautusi Islam - Student, Department of Biochemistry and Microbiology, University of Dhaka
Source: Science Alert
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