Grant: Research Tools and Instruments - Category 1 (<$150,000)

Standard laboratory equipment items, specifically an ultra-low freezer and a laboratory washer, are required for our laboratory's experiments into cell death, cell survival and growth. Over recent years, the process of programmed cell death has become very well understood. To actively counteract cell death, survival mechanisms involving the insulin receptor (and molecules activated by it) function to help cells live and grow. In our laboratory, we study such processes in the common fruit fly, an ideal model organism in which to study the fundamental aspects of cell biology. A few years ago, we demonstrated that reduced levels of a protein activated by the insulin receptor result in cell death in a developing multicellular organism. Recently we found that another factor is key in the interpretation of low levels of insulin receptor activity and acts to reduce growth and alter metabolism in fruit flies. Most importantly, we have found that this factor may provide a short-term survival mechanism when nutrients are unavailable, and thus may have an important role in the sensing of nutrition. As cell death plays a role in degeneration of neurons, we have started to investigate the cellular basis of neurodegeneration and its prevention. Currently, we are investigating other crucial components of these mechanisms that control cell growth and cell death. With the recent advances derived from the human and other genome projects, discoveries in model organisms promise to offer information important to the survival and growth of humans. This line of inquiry promises to advance our knowledge relating to many conditions suffered by Canadians, such as diabetes, obesity, and neurodegenerative diseases including Parkinson's Disease and Huntington's Disease. In summary, our continued research into the molecular cell biology of fruit flies will provide a great opportunity to explore the fundamental mechanisms that control the delicate balance between life and death.