Genome

• Fruit flies can be truly annoying when they are buzzing around your living room or landing in your wine.
• But we have much to thank these tiny nuisances for – they revolutionised biological and medical science.
• Flies and mosquitoes both belong to Diptera, the group of insects that have only two wings (from the Greek di meaning two and pteron meaning wing).
• I will argue from a different angle, though, to win your respect for one specific dipteran: the fruit or vinegar fly (Drosophila melanogaster).

Helping science take off

• This is because it’s easier to see evolutionary changes in large populations of a species with high turnover.
• His mass-breeding experiments with hundreds of thousands of flies led to the discovery of a single fly with white eyes, instead of the red eyes fruit flies normally have.
• The plethora of genetic strategies we’ve learned about in flies has turned into a powerful means to dissect mechanisms of fly development.
• In 1995, three scientists won the Nobel prize for their contribution to this new understanding.

A startling likeness

• Many human genes can even take over the function of their Drosophilia equivalent when inserted into the fly genome.
• Because we are so alike genetically, many aspects of human biology and disease have been explored first in Drosophila.
• Today, over 10,000 researchers worldwide are estimated to work with Drosophila in many areas of science that relate to human biology and disease.
• Fruit flies hovering in your kitchen might be aggravating, but hopefully you will see them in a different light now.

• Theodoris and her team used Geneformer to shed light on how heart cells go awry in heart disease.
• "This approach will greatly advance our ability to design network-correcting therapies in diseases where progress has been obstructed by limited data."
• Some of those genes, in turn, impact other genes—or loop back and put the brakes on the first gene.
• However, other potentially important genes identified by Geneformer had not been previously associated with heart disease, such as the gene TEAD4.

• “Evaxion continues to make significant progress towards our mission of advancing AI-powered immunotherapies to save lives,” said Per Norlén, Chief Executive Officer of Evaxion.
• Operating spending for the first quarter of 2023 was offset by the proceeds from issue of shares and exercise of warrants.
• Research and Development expenses were $3.9 million for the quarter ended March 31, 2023 as compared to $4.8 million for the quarter ended March 31, 2022.
• General and Administrative expenses were $2.5 million for the quarter ended March 31, 2023 as compared to $1.6 million for the quarter ended March 31, 2022.

• Dr. Massacesi is a leading expert in medical oncology, with over 20 years of research and drug development experience in the pharmaceutical industry.
• Prior to that, as Global Clinical Program Head, he led the company’s PI3K-inhibitors portfolio through clinical development, including registrational studies and submissions.
• Adrian Woolfson, Executive Chairman, President, and Co-founder of Replay, commented: “Cristian has an exceptional reputation within the life sciences community and his extensive experience and expertise in leading oncology clinical development programs is a significant addition to Replay’s board.
• I am excited to be joining as a board member and to be supporting such a strong and dynamic team.