Congratulations to Amanda Simcox who is a co-PI on a four-year NIH grant entitled “Next-generation Drosophila cell lines to elucidate the cellular basis of human diseases.”  In this collaborative project with colleagues at Harvard, the Simcox group will use new methods to generate cell lines from the common fruit fly (Drosophila melanogaster) corresponding to specific cell types found in many organisms. Thanks to conservation between Drosophila and other animals, these cells will be valuable models for research on genes and pathways that are implicated in human diseases.