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What do fruit flies and Nobel Prizes have in common? More than you might think—especially when it comes to understanding how memories are made and stored in the brain.

Dr. Jamie Kramer, a professor in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at Dalhousie’s Faculty of Medicine, recently co-authored a groundbreaking study accepted at Nature Communications, one of the world’s leading scientific journals. 

Working with collaborators in Madrid, Spain led by Dr. Francisco Martin, Dr. Kramer’s group used fruit flies (Drosophila melanogaster) to uncover new clues about the genes and molecular switches that help memories stick.

Why fruit flies?

It might sound surprising, but fruit flies have been at the heart of genetic research for over a century. 

“They’re small, cheap, and their genetics are easy to control,” Dr. Kramer explains. “Their brains are simple enough to study in detail, but still complex enough to teach us about how memory works.” 

In fact, some of the first “memory genes” were discovered in fruit flies, and research in these tiny insects has led to several Nobel Prizes—including discoveries about circadian rhythms—our daily sleep-wake cycles.

How do memories form?

Dr. Kramer’s research focuses on the difference between short-term and long-term memory. While short-term memories can fade quickly, long-term memories require a special process: certain genes in our brain cells must be switched on to help store information for the long haul. 

“We know this happens in both flies and mammals, but the exact genes and transcription factors—or switches—involved have been a mystery,” says Dr. Kramer.

Using advanced technology, his team was able to isolate the specific memory-forming neurons in fruit flies and track which genes were activated as memories formed and were recalled. This was no small feat—these neurons are tiny and hard to study.

The team identified a group of genes that are switched on during long-term memory formation, as well as two key “switches” (called transcription factors) that control this process. What’s especially exciting is that these switches are also linked to human neurological disorders, including some rare neurodevelopmental and neurodegenerative diseases. 

“The genes that we discovered to be controlling memory storage in flies are also present in humans and implicated in human disease” Dr. Kramer notes. “That means our work could help us understand not just memory but also give clues about the mechanisms underlying the related human disorders.”

Building blocks for future research

Dr. Kramer’s work is a classic example of how basic science lays the foundation for future breakthroughs. 

By mapping out how memory works in fruit flies, researchers can quickly test hundreds of genes—far faster than in using mammalian model systems. 

“We’re providing the building blocks,” he says. “Other scientists can use our findings to study these genes further.”