In the conference 'Drosophila as a model in cancer', to be held from 15 to 17 June in Barcelona, IRB Barcelona –located at the Parc Científic de Barcelona (PCB)– and the BBVA Foundation bring together a select group of leading scientists that use the fruit fly for cancer research. Held at the Institut d’Estudis Catalans (IEC), the event will involve the participation of 150 scientists and the attendance of reference scientific journals such as Nature Genetics, Nature Protocols and Embo Reports.

For decades, model organisms in biomedical research, such as the fly Drosophila melanogaster, have allowed the first observations of the mechanisms of action of proteins related to human cancer. This fly can be used to study specific types of tumour, ranging from leukaemia to brain tumours, and complex processes such as metastasis or the wasting syndrome (extreme muscle weakness) associated with cancer. In addition, Drosophila has proved to be an excellent tool for drug screening in vivo.

“Many of the relevant genes in cancer were first discovered in Drosophila,” explains Marco Milán, ICREA researcher at the Institute for Research in Biomedicine (IRB Barcelona), who, together with Cayetano González, also an ICREA researcher at the same centre, has selected 23 scientists to participate in the Barcelona Biomed Conference entitled “Drosophila as a model in cancer”—an event supported by the BBVA Foundation.

Nobert Perrimon is among the invited speakers. From his lab at Harvard, he has performed one of the largest screenings of molecules in flies in search of new anti-tumour applications of drugs that have already been approved by the FDA.

Special mention is also given to the participation of Sam Jackson, from the National Center for the Replacement, Refinement and Reduction of Animals in Research, a British organisation that promotes and supports the use of invertebrate models, such as Drosophila, for cancer research.

The full programme of the conference is available here [+]