Annual Drosophila Meeting Creates Buzz at UMass Chan

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By DoM Communications | Date published: June 5, 2024

Annual Drosophila Meeting Creates Buzz at UMass Chan
Nearly 200 participants attended from throughout the Northeast

Molly Murphy, a graduate student in the Silverman lab, presents her poster, "Plasma membrane rupture protein Ninjurin A controls susceptibility of Drosophila melanogaster to Invertebrate Iridescent Virus 6 (IIV6) infection in a Turandot-independent manner" at this year’s meeting

The 8th Annual Boston Area Drosophila Meeting was held on Tuesday, May 21, bringing together Drosophila scientists from institutes throughout the Northeast to share their latest research and expertise.

Drosophila melanogaster, otherwise known as a common fruit fly, is a model system used by scientists to study everything from inflammation and immunity to developmental biology and cell death processes. Many genes that are mutated in human genetic diseases are shared with the fruit fly, thus making it a desirable and powerful model organism.

This year’s day-long event featured a keynote presentation from Yukiko Yamashita, PhD, of the Whitehead Institute at MIT. Dr. Yamashita spoke about asymmetric cell divisions in the Drosophila germline. Additionally, the day included 17 plenary talks, taking place in the Albert Sherman Center Auditorium, and a poster session with nearly 70 scientific posters in the Medical School Lobby.

UMass Chan event organizers included Neal Silverman, PhD, professor of medicine in the Division of Infectious Diseases and Immunology, Phillip Zamore, PhD, of RNA therapeutics, Andreas Bergmann, PhD, of molecular, cell and cancer biology, and Travis Thomson, PhD, of neurobiology.