Research group Heinrich Reichert

Brain development in Drosophila: complex circuits or lethal tumor?

The fruit fly, Drosophila, can be used as a model to investigate the role of neural stem cells in the development of normal brain circuits and abnormal brain tumors.

Drosophila brain: normal (above); with lethal tumor tissue (below).

The brain consists of a vast number of nerve cells, which are interconnected in complex neural circuits. These nerve cells are produced by neural stem cells during the development of the brain. How neural stem cells produce the right type of nerve cells, and in the right number, is one of the key questions facing neuroscience today.

Brain development in Drosophila

We are studying this question with the genetic model system of the fruit fly, Drosophila. Our research has discovered a molecular production program that takes place in the neural stem cells during normal brain development.

Stem cells and brain tumors

When this molecular program is working properly, the right neurons are produced as required for the neural circuits in the brain. On the other hand, if the program is disrupted by the mutation of important genes, then the neural stem cells produce incorrectly programmed cells in an uncontrolled manner. As a result, a lethal brain tumor develops.

Prevention of brain tumors

We are studying these mutated neural stem cells and their misprogrammed descendants with the goal of using molecular genetic methods to prevent the development of brain tumors. As Drosophila has many genetic similarities with humans, we hope that we can also develop molecular prevention strategies for lethal brain tumors in humans.