Innovation Anthology #500:

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As far as biologist Dr. Kirst King-Jones is concerned, the lowly fruit fly is a geneticist’s dream.

With funding from Alberta Innovates Health Solutions, Dr. King-Jones studies the fruit fly to find metabolic pathways related to disease.

DR. KIRST KING-JONES: Many of the human disease genes are what we call conserved between the fly and humans. So in other words there’s a counterpart that just looks like it and functions in a very similar way. And the beauty about the fruit fly is that we can now manipulate this gene in the fly and discover how the pathway it acts in works and can then apply this knowledge we gain from the fly back to humans. And you can of course ask then why would you go through the fly. Why don’t you do it directly in humans or in mice? And the answer is that is that the pathways are basically stripped down. They are simpler. You don’t have redundant genes which are multiple copies of the same thing. And of course, the flies, they only need two weeks for a generation.

Dr. Kirst King Jones says there are also many experiments he can conduct on fruit flies that for ethical reasons he couldn’t on higher organisms.

Thanks today to Alberta Innovates Health Solutions

FOR INNOVATION ANTHOLOGY
I’M CHERYL CROUCHER

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Alberta Innovates Health Solutions

Alberta Innovates (formerly Alberta Innovates – Health Solutions)

As the newly formed Alberta Innovates corporation, we still fund top quality, internationally competitive health research and innovation activities to improve the health and wellbeing of Albertans. We provide leadership for Alberta’s health research and innovation enterprise by directing, coordinating, reviewing, funding and supporting research and innovation.

Working with our many partners  in the health system, we ensure that research achieves innovation in care, policy and practice, and that the needs of patients and clinicians influence research.

Our background

Alberta Innovates consolidation was launched November 1, 2016.

Alberta Innovates – Health Solutions

Alberta Innovates – Health Solutions was established as part of the Alberta Innovates system by an Act of Legislation of the Government of Alberta. It is a agency  of the Government of Alberta. We receive a yearly allocation from the Ministry of Health and report through the ministry to the people of Alberta.

Our Mandate and Roles document reflects our role and responsibilities and outlines the government statues and regulations with which we comply.

Alberta’s Health Research and Innovation Strategy (AHRIS) sets out Alberta’s health research agenda for the coming decade to ensure our considerable investments in research align with our priority—to improve the health of Albertans.

Program Date: 2012-09-27