Animal care facility and Biosafety - Group C, Aquisition of equipment and reagents for the future Brazilian Center of Drosophila Stocks

• Grant number: 25/07688-5
• Support Opportunities: Research Infrastructure Program - Improvement of the Operational Infrastructure of Small-Animal Facilities and Biosafety
• Start date: February 01, 2026
• End date: January 31, 2029
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Biochemistry - Metabolism and Bioenergetics
• Principal Investigator: Marcos Túlio de Oliveira
• Grantee: Marcos Túlio de Oliveira
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Medicina de Ribeirão Preto (FMRP). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Ribeirão Preto , SP, Brazil
• City of the host institution: Ribeirão Preto

Abstract

Drosophila melanogaster is undoubtedly one of the most useful model organisms in the life sciences. This fly species was initially used to consolidate the principles of heredity and establish the basic concepts of population genetics and the synthetic theory of evolution, but today it can offer scientists much more: the possibility of investigating a multitude of cellular and biological mechanisms, from the development and function of the immune system to neurogenesis, tumorigenesis and several other phenomena of biomedical interest. Numerous resources and research tools are available at relatively low cost to the community of Drosophila researchers around the world, including an increasing number of mutant, transgenic, and genomically edited lineages, which can serve as models for the study of human diseases, significantly reducing and/or effectively replacing the use of vertebrate animals in scientific research. Recently, through scientometric analyses, we showed the low adherence of Brazilian laboratories to the use of Drosophila as a model organism in their research, which is probably due to the lack of general knowledge of the model and the difficulties in importing specific fly lines from international stock centers. The creation of the Brazilian Center for Drosophila Stocks, therefore, comes to meet these needs of the Brazilian scientific community, generating models of diseases that are important for our population and helping to disseminate the potential of this model organism, in agreement with the principles of the 3Rs in experimentation with vertebrates, with the current Brazilian legislation and with the global trend of better ethics in the use of animals in research and teaching. (AU)