Dreaming of Flies

Biologist Christiane Nüsslein-Volhard says her interest in animals was sparked by childhood trips to the farm where her grandparents sought refuge during World War II. A school report says she had “the talent for independent scientific work”, though notes she could be “decidedly lazy”. As a scientist, she explored which genes regulate the development of an embryo from a ball of cells into a complex organism. She induced mutations in the genes of fruit flies to identify the role that each gene plays. The genes were named after each fly’s appearance, and include ‘hedgehog’, ‘gurken’ and ‘Krüppel’ (German for cripple). It’s now known that many of these genes have similar roles in other species. In 1995 Nüsslein-Volhard and colleagues were awarded the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine. In an online biography Nüsslein-Volhard says, “I immediately loved working with flies. They fascinated me, and followed me around in my dreams.”

Christiane Nüsslein-Volhard was born on this day in 1942

Written by Deborah Oakley

Deborah Oakley

Writer

Deborah is researching healthy cognitive ageing at the University of Cambridge. She previously worked as a science communicator in London, working closely with the BPoD team.

• Image by Bastian Greshake
• Image originally published on Flickr with a Creative Commons BY-SA 2.0 licence