Drosophila melanogaster. In Art of Science

Caption: Workhorse of genetics: Drosophila melanogaster Participant category: Faculty/Scientist Affiliation: National Center for Microscopy and Imaging Research at UC San Diego Long considered the linchpin of genomics research since they are easy to manipulate, inexpensive to maintain, have short generation times and share many genes involved in human diseases, these model organisms have led to countless discoveries in biomedicine. This scanning electron micrograph was generated as part of a collaboration between the National Center for Microscopy and Imaging Research at UCSD and the laboratory of renowned UCSD scientist Dr. Michael Karin to better understand genes and aging (see: Lee et al., Science. 2010 Mar 5;327(5970):1223-8). Image by Thomas Deerinck, NCMIR, UCSD.