Studying the Genetics of Organismal Physiology

Genetics, physiology, and the fruit fly.

The Blumenthal Lab uses the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster to investigate how the loss of individual genes can result in the failure of multiple physiological systems.

• Joining the Lab

• Lab News & Updates

• Research Publications

• Current Projects

• About Our Lab

About the Blumenthal Lab

Our Mission

Current Research Projects

We study the genetic basis of neurodegeneration using Drosophila melanogaster as our primary model organism. Our work focuses on how changes in single genes propagate through the biology of a whole animal — affecting neural function, behavior, and organismal survival. By connecting molecular mechanisms to whole-organism outcomes, we aim to identify fundamental mechanisms of animal development and conserved pathways relevant to human neurodegenerative disease.

Meet Our Lab Personnel

Our current research focuses on several phenotypes of Drosophila that are mutant for the gene drop-dead

neurodegeneration due to loss of neuron-glia interactions
loss of normal gut structure and function
slow larval growth and abnormal adult body mass

Learn More

News & Updates

Join The Lab

We welcome motivated graduate and undergraduate students and postdoctoral fellows interested in neurodegeneration, animal development, and organismal genetics. To get in touch, email edward.blumenthal@marquette.edu. For more information about the graduate program in Biological Sciences, click below.