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The humble fruit fly may be small, but it punches above its weight (about the same as a few grains of salt) in medical research. D r Hannah Hawley, fromMassey University, has received a prestigious $201k First Fellowship from the Neurological Foundation to use fruit flies to better understand how Alzheimer’s disease develops. This project builds on her PhD studies and leverages years of expertise in neurogenetics and ageing research developed in Dr Helen Fitzsimons’ laboratory. The tiny insects used in Hannah’s study are the same species as those found hovering over your fruit bowl – Drosophila melanogaster. But hers have been genetically customised for research and are shipped to New Zealand from a specialist facility in Texas. Fruit flies share about 75 per cent of disease-causing genes (DNA) with humans, making them a useful model for studying human disease. “Fruit flies have been used in research for more than a hundred years,” says Hannah. “They are a really good model because their brains have a defined structure that is well understood.” Because their life cycle is short (up to 90 days in a lab), researchers can observe the effects of genetic changes and potential treatments in a matter of days. An exciting part of Hannah’s research is being able to observe changes in brain cells in live fruit flies under a powerful microscope – something that isn’t yet possible in humans. Once her project is up and running, Hannah will use the fruit flies to test genetic and drug-based methods to break up the harmful clumps of protein that form inside the cells of a fly brain that mimics Alzheimer’s disease. “The findings may help us better understand how brain cells malfunction in conditions linked to ageing and memory loss,” says Hannah. “It is very much proof of principle work at this stage, but we’re excited to see where it takes us.” Born and raised in Palmerston North, Hannah says she’s thrilled to be leading a high-level research project with the potential for real impact – and even more so to be doing it in her hometown. Hannah is being mentored by Dr Helen Fitzsimons and Associate Professor Andrew Sutherland-Smith. Both Helen and Andrew have also received Neurological Foundation funding in the course of their careers. Headlines 15 “The findings may help us better understand how brain cells malfunction in conditions linked to ageing and memory loss.” Dr Hannah Hawley Right: A close-up image of a fruit fly brain, obtained using a confocal microscope at the Manawatū Microscopy and Imaging Centre at Massey University. It recently won First Prize at the Genetics Society of AustralAsia (GSA) Image Competition 2025.