Research being conducted at ²ÝÝ®ÉçÇø in Harrisonburg could begin to shed some light on the mysteries of aging.

Assistant professor of is doing aging research using an unlikely subject- fruit flies.

The concept of studying human aging by using fruit flies is one his student research assistant Charise Garber, a senior from Lancaster, Pennsylvania found a bit strange when she first signed on to the project.

“It was really weird when I first thought about it that way. You don’t really think about discoveries in flies having very much to do with human life span or anything else,” Garber said.

However, Copeland says the flies are at the very center of unlocking the mysteries of aging.

“A lot of our understanding of various diseases, we have some kind of framework but with aging we have no idea of how it works really,” Copeland explained. “We kind of have some ideas of why it happens but we don’t really have any genes behind it or why it happens or why some people can live long healthy lives.”

With the flies, Copeland can run experiments that would be impossible to do on humans.

“We can’t obviously do a lot of human studies so we use these flies to kind of learn from them and then apply to humans,” Copeland commented. “They’re kind of the testing ground for aging research, it can then be applied and it’s kind of what we’ve seen work for these small organism, has also worked for larger organism.”

However, the average life span of a fruit fly in the lab is just about 45 days. So how can research into a creature so small, with such a short life span, tell scientists anything about human aging? The answer to that relies heavily on what has worked in the past.

“Anything we know about aging has come from smaller organisms, from nematodes, from fruit flies and then has been applied to mice and into chimpanzees,” Copeland said.

Successful research that is done on the flies in Harrisonburg is then tried on larger organisms in labs around the world.

“So if it works for a fly and a worm, and it also works for a mouse, it will certainly work for a human,” Copeland said.

If it works in a human, then it could have dramatic consequences on how age-related diseases are treated.

Copeland says “A lot of what we know about medically related diseases – Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, Cancer – all of them have a primary factor of age. Typically you don’t hear of young people getting these diseases.”

One especially tough disease that has an age related component is Alzheimer’s.

“A lot of people with Alzheimer’s have an age related disease, a lot of their metabolism goes down and if we can figure out how the metabolism has gone wrong in an Alzheimer’s patient, maybe we can boost their metabolism, boost that age related aspect and then find a way to recover that aspect and maybe find a treatment,” Dr. Copeland said.

The research team has already found some success in changing the metabolism of flies.

One experiment Garber ran seemed odd at first: giving a small dose of poison to the flies, but believe it or not, the flies lived longer.

“I was kind of like, well that seems strange, you know it’s kind of a strange concept that you can feed flies poison and expect them to live longer, you know it’s just not something you expect,” Garber said.

While it may be years before anything learned from the fly lab changes how we live, it’s already starting to take hold.

“When you take a step back and you look at the lifespans, you look at the accumulated data, you can say hey I actually have a story here, I see that I can actually extend the life of flies, 40%, 50, that’s something significant,” Copeland said.

Some of the research has already been applied to mice by a French scientist and Garber plans to use her experiences in the lab when she applies to medical school later this semester.

This is one of the most basic and unknown questions of biology, says , assistant professor of .

Joining him to study the topic is junior biology/ double major, Charise Garber of Lancaster, Pa.

“We’re using fruit flies,” explained Garber, “because their genes are easy to manipulate. Fruit flies live relatively short lives and are metabolically similar.”

Original research stems from post-doctoral work

The fruit fly research builds on Copeland’s post-doctoral work at The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) and his doctorate work at the California Institute of Technology.

Continuing the project at EMU has allowed Copeland to engage with a student in significant ways.

Students and professors work alongside each other

This kind of study – undergraduates paired with full-PhD level professors doing original research – is typical at EMU and key to the success many graduates report enjoying in graduate and medical school study.

Hearing about this kind of faculty-student interaction from EMU alumni in the Lancaster area, as well as a campus visit, influenced Garber’s decision to come to EMU.

“When I came, I visited professors from many different departments,” Garber said. “They not only took the time to answer my questions, but helped guide me in the directions that were best suited to my gifts.

Interdisciplinary focus allows students to cross disciplines

The interdisciplinary emphasis of EMU is a real strength of the university, Garber noted.

“It’s something I’ve really grown to appreciate now that I’m here,” she reflects, noting the ‘s new interdisciplinary studies concentration as a good example.

With her double major in music and biology, Garber intends to do research next year on connections between the two fields.

Impressive alumni were key factor in professor’s decision

Copeland considered other options before coming to EMU in fall 2010. Even while still in Los Angeles, Copeland said, he met many alumni who impressed him with their unique perspective and knowledge.

“Most professors have the option of picking a larger or a smaller school to teach,” Copeland noted.

“Part of the thrill of teaching at EMU is being able to have those one-on-one mentoring opportunities that strengthen the educational experience for both teacher and student.”

About the research on aging

Of the current theories of aging, Copeland notes that scientists currently have only a naive idea, and “we don’t have a good understanding of the genes controlling the aging process.”

He wants to understand which genes are important and how they relate to the numerous age-related diseases, like Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s.

“One method to understanding the life of fruit flies is to slightly lower their metabolism, and it is important to determine if lowered metabolism can affect disease models in flies,” Copeland explained.

Lowered metabolism may hold key

Garber and Copeland know that lowered metabolism specifically in the brains of flies can extend the lifespan, something Copeland determined in his earlier research at UCLA.

Now the two hope to discover what regions of the brain are affected and in what way. Answering these questions could give scientists everywhere never before seen insights into many illnesses currently plaguing humanity.

Tim Hartman, Elida, Ohio, a senior with a emphasis, contributed to this article.

Seen a student in a Royals blue STEM sweatshirt lately? Ask what he or she is working on – you’ll be surprised by the meaningful and high-tech research STEM students are completing side-by-side with profs who are experts in their fields.

Come hear these STEM students present research findings on Friday, December 10, 2010, in SC104 at 3:40 p.m.:

Optimal Growth Conditions Across Organic Blueberry Cultivars and Soil Treatments

Denay Fuglie and Braydon Hoover examined optimal growing conditions and parameters across five separate cultivars (Jersey, Bluecrop, Duke, Chandler, and Bluegold) and four different soil treatments (Horse Manure, Sheep Manure, Pine Straw, and Planter’s Choice Compost) at Knoll Acres Organic Blueberry Farm in Harrisonburg, Virginia. Data derived from in-field anatomical measurements throughout the spring, summer, and fall months were statistically analyzed through SPSS ANOVA.

About the student presenters

Braydon P. Hoover is a senior major with minors in and hailing from Elizabethtown, Pa. Denay Fuglie is a senior biology/pre-med major and minor born and raised in Saudi Arabia. Both are officers of the Pre-Professional Health Society here at EMU and plan on attending medical school after graduation. They took an interest in Dr. Miller’s organic blueberry research due to their extreme love of blueberries and became involved in the project in the summer of 2010.

Mechanisms of Remyelination in a Murine Model of Multiple Sclerosis

Charise Garber‘s research focused on Multiple Sclerosis, a neurodegenerative autoimmune disease that is characterized by demyelination of the axons in the central nervous system (CNS). In many cases of multiple sclerosis, periods of demyelination are followed by recovery periods of remyelination. Understanding the process of remyelination, and why it fails, is therefore very important in developing therapies to ease the symptoms of this disease. Charise’s research in summer 2010 focused on the role of several chemokines in mediating remyelination in a mouse model of multiple sclerosis.

About the student presenter

Charise Garber is a junior biology/pre-med and music (interdisciplinary studies) major with interests in biomedical research and international medicine. She spent summer 2010 in a research lab at Washington University in St. Louis exploring several signaling molecules and their role in remyelination.

Isolation of Praying Mantis Oothecal Proteins

Brianna Oelschlager (under the direction of Dr. Rajeev Vaidyanathan) focused her research on isolation of proteins to further anti-microbial work. The female praying mantis surrounds her eggs with a foam-like substance called an ootheca, which is likely composed of proteins with water-repellent, thermostable, and bacterial static properties. Previous work has identified specific plasmin-like proteases from the mantis egg casing , but the anti-microbial properties of mantis oothecal proteins have yet to be explored. Briann’s study outlines a protocol to isolate and characterize T. sinensis oothecal proteins in preparation for bioassays and LC-MS/MS to design primers to synthesize recombinant protein for use in anti-microbial bioassays.

About the student presenter

Brianna Oelschlager is a senior biochemistry major with a minor. She interned in 2010 at SRI International Center for Advanced Drug Research in Harrisonburg. Brianna worked as a student research associate on a project combining the fields of entomology and protein biochemistry. Brianna continued her work at SRI throughout the fall 2010 semester and plans on beginning medical school after graduation.

CNS Delivery of a Proteasome Inhibitor as a Therapy for Spinal Muscular Atrophy

Jonathan Nofziger‘s research focused on spinal muscular atrophy, a recessive degenerative neuromuscular disease caused by a deficiency in the full length survival motor neuron protein. Jonathan’s research explored one possible avenue of treatment: proteasome inhibitors in combination with p-glycoprotein inhibitors.

About the student presenter

Jonathan Nofziger is a senior biochemistry major from Stevens, Pa. He conducted his research at the National Institues of Health (NIH) National Institutes of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) Neurological Genetics Branch (NGB). The Bethesda, Maryland, location of the NIH was accessible to Jonathan during his semester at EMU’s Washington Community Scholars Center. In his free time Jonathan plays French horn, takes photos and is a lighting designer.

Learn more about STEM majors at EMU