Fruit flies will be used as a model by scientists at the University of Southampton to assess the function of asthma genes

Researchers from the University of Southampton will conduct a new study to unlock asthma susceptibility genes.

The new study involves scientists from the university's Institute for Life Sciences and will use fruit flies as a model to assess the function of asthma genes.

The team, which includes doctors Amrit Mudher, Jane Collins, and Hans Michael Haitchi, will work with professor Thomas Roeder from the University of Kiel in Germany.

The study is funded by The National Centre for the Replacement, Refinement and Reduction of Animals in Research (NC3Rs) under the call for ‘Non-mammalian models for asthma research’, which aims to fund studies that reduces the need for animal research.

ProfDonna Davies, who will lead the study, said: “Understanding how these genes work is the key to unlocking how asthma develops in young children and will ultimately allow us to develop therapies that prevent asthma, rather than treat its symptoms.

“The fruit fly has proved to be a useful genetic tool for studying a number of human diseases including neurodegeneration, cancer, and cardiovascular disease and crucially, for our purposes, they also have branched airways (tracheae) with features similar to human airways.

"We are excited about how this project can greatly accelerate our asthma research, but the real innovation is bringing together researchers with very different backgrounds to address this challenge.”

Prof Davies added: “Flies are so quick and easy to work with so hopefully we will move forward our understanding of the disease much, much faster.”