April 2024 - "How does a fly die?" New review from the lab published in GeroScience
Drosophila is a valuable organism in ageing research, because of their short lifespan and strong evolutionary conservation with mammals. But in our survival assays, we routinely just score death as an endpoint... Autopsies in flies are impractical, so we know surprisingly little about their actual cause of death! Rather than focus on genes and signalling pathways implicated in longevity, instead here we describe the dysregulation of physiological processes and organs that may contribute to death in Drosophila. This conceptual framework will allow us to distinguish lifespan extension through rescue of a common disease, versus prevention of ageing mechanisms. By improving our understanding of the pathologies that limit fly survival, as a field we can continue to make even more exciting fundamental discoveries into the biology of ageing.
Congrats to PhD student-turned-postdoc Eliano on this paper! Read the full article here: "How does a fly die? Insights into ageing from the pathophysiology of Drosophila mortality" dos Santos & Cochemé 2024
Congrats to PhD student-turned-postdoc Eliano on this paper! Read the full article here: "How does a fly die? Insights into ageing from the pathophysiology of Drosophila mortality" dos Santos & Cochemé 2024
April 2024 - UK Redox Network Meeting
This hybrid meeting, co-organised by Helena, brought together attendees from 17 institutions across the UK and Ireland. A great opportunity to network and strengthen interactions within our redox research community and with SFRR-Europe. Also congrats to Paul for being selected as an elevated ECR talk!
April 2023 - Congratulations Dr dos Santos!
Congratulations to PhD student Eliano dos Santos on passing his viva!
January 2023 - 'A Picture of Health'
Helena contributed an artwork to the Picture of Health exhibition. Learn more about the event and book launch here.
September 2022 - New LMS Building
The Cochemé lab is moving to our Institute's brand new LMS Building!
January 2022 - Congratulations Dr Vincent!
Congratulations to PhD student Alec Vincent on passing his viva!
September 2021 - Artwork featured on the cover of Molecular Cell
We are excited to have contributed to the focus issue of Molecular Cell on metabolism, both scientifically with our redox review and artistically with our cover design!
Read the full article here: "Redox Metabolism: ROS as specific molecular regulators of cell signaling and function" Lennicke & Cochemé 2021
The painting by post-doc Claudia's father, Manfred Lennicke, is an artistic interpretation of cellular metabolism, capturing the dynamic nature of energy flow and biochemical reactions. Learn more about their creative sci-art process from Claudia's blog on the LMS website
Read the full article here: "Redox Metabolism: ROS as specific molecular regulators of cell signaling and function" Lennicke & Cochemé 2021
The painting by post-doc Claudia's father, Manfred Lennicke, is an artistic interpretation of cellular metabolism, capturing the dynamic nature of energy flow and biochemical reactions. Learn more about their creative sci-art process from Claudia's blog on the LMS website
December 2020 - Virtual Festive Greetings from the Lab!
August 2020 - Research Highlighted on BPoD
Work from the group was featured as the Biomedical Picture of the Day (BPoD). The montage of microscopy images depicts dissected fly renal tubules, alternating ones that are clear and healthy, with others showing accumulation of dark uric acid kidney stones.
Read the BPoD story here
Read the BPoD story here
April 2020 - Paper Published in Cell Metabolism
Our study on how high-sugar diets affect survival is published in Cell Metabolism. Congratulations to all the group members involved!
Read the full paper here: van Dam et al. 2020
See here for news coverage of the publication on the LMS website, Imperial College website, and Forbes Science
View the Video Abstract on YouTube
Read the full paper here: van Dam et al. 2020
See here for news coverage of the publication on the LMS website, Imperial College website, and Forbes Science
View the Video Abstract on YouTube
January 2020 - PhD Success
Congratulations to our PhD student Lucie van Leeuwen for passing her PhD viva! The lab celebrated with a cake version of a protein gel from her paper. We wish Lucie great success in her future scientific career!
October 2019 - Lab Pre-print on Redox and Ageing
Our new study entitled 'Enhancing autophagy by redox regulation extends lifespan in Drosophila' is now available as a pre-print on BioRxiv.
Read the full paper here
Read the full paper here
September 2019 - Collaboration on Metformin and Host Longevity Published in Cell
Our collaboration with the Cabreiro Lab at the MRC LMS is published in Cell, where we demonstrate evolutionary conservation of key findings to flies. The anti-diabetic drug metformin can extend lifespan in Drosophila under defined nutritional conditions, when colonised with wild-type E. coli, but not bacteria mutant for a specific signalling pathway, or under germ-free conditions. This confirms that the microbiota is also essential for the host longevity benefits of metformin in flies. Importantly, we show that direct supplementation of the fly diet with the bacteria-derived metabolite agmatine is sufficient to extend lifespan dose-dependently.
Read the full paper here: Pryor et al. 2019
View the Video Abstract for this study on YouTube
Read the full paper here: Pryor et al. 2019
View the Video Abstract for this study on YouTube
September 2019 - EDRC
Helena, Claudia and Eliano joined ~750 other fly scientists at the EDRC (European Drosophila Research Conference) in Lausanne, Switzerland.
July 2019 - Biochemical Society & BSRA Meeting on Redox & Ageing
Helena and Claudia travelled to Newcastle for the 'Redox Signalling in Physiology, Ageing and Disease' meeting jointly organised by the Biochemical Society and the British Society for Research on Ageing (BSRA). Helena was invited to present the group's recent findings on redox regulation of autophagy in ageing.
December 2018 - Merry Christmas from the Lab!
Festive greetings from the Cochemé Lab Xmas Lunch and the Institute Xmas Party!
October 2018 - LMS Family Day
As part of the Institute's Athena SWAN initiative, Helena was involved in organising the first LMS 'Bring your Family to Work' event. The day included a range of hands-on lab activities and workshops catering for all ages, as well as guided tours of the fly facilities by members of the Cochemé group. Thanks to everyone who participated - volunteers and visitors - for the making the event such a success!
Read coverage of the event, including an interview with Helena, on the LMS website news story.
Read coverage of the event, including an interview with Helena, on the LMS website news story.
July 2018 - Redox Gordon Conference
Helena attended the Gordon Research Conference on 'Thiol-Based Redox Regulation and Signaling' in Barcelona, where she presented a talk in the Ageing session.
June 2018 - Arrivals & Departures
The annual LMS Rounders and Picnic on Wormwood Scrubs was a sunny but emotional afternoon, as we said farewell to our PhD student Lucie, who is embarking on her maternity leave, soon to be followed by our lab manager, Andrea. We wish them both and their bumps well! We also welcomed some new group members - our post-doc Claudia, and Marcela, who joins us as our lab manager maternity cover.
April 2018 - Flying at the Imperial Festival
Lucie joined colleagues from the Miguel-Aliaga and Hirabayashi labs at the annual Imperial Festival, showcasing the use of flies in scientific research to the general public. The stand featured a range of demos highlighting the advantages of Drosophila as a model organism.
March 2018 - Nomination for a SACA Award
Helena is delighted to have been nominated for a SACA 2018 award. The SACAs (Student Academic Choice Awards) are organised by Imperial College Union to recognise excellence amongst staff. As a nominee, she is now the proud owner of a coveted SACA mug!
October 2017 - Athena Success
Congratulations to the LMS on receiving its Athena Swan Silver Award! Several members of the Cochemé Lab have been involved with the Athena Swan initiative at the Institute: Helena was chair of the CPD (Continuing Professional Development) working group (2014-2016), and now leads the Families working group (2017-), while Fiona was a member of the CPD and Mentoring working groups.
September 2017 - Pastures New
Farewell to two members of the Cochemé Lab: Fiona is moving to the University of Glasgow, while Joel concludes his Commonwealth Scholarship placement and returns to complete his PhD at VIT University in India. We wish them both luck with their future scientific endeavours!
September 2017 - EDRC
The Cochemé Lab attends the EDRC (European Drosophila Research Conference) held in London. Lucie and Joel both presented posters, while Helena was invited to speak at the 'Mitochondria' workshop.
July 2017 - Click-PEGylation Paper Published!
Congratulations to our PhD student, Lucie! Her paper 'Click-PEGylation - A mobility shift approach to assess the redox state of cysteines in candidate proteins' is published in the journal Free Radical Biology & Medicine.
Read the paper here: van Leeuwen et al. 2017
Read the paper here: van Leeuwen et al. 2017
November 2016 - Fly Away Day
The LMS Drosophila groups (Cochemé, Miguel-Aliaga, and Hirabayashi labs) met up with their counterparts from the South Kensington campus of Imperial College London (Gilestro, Dionne, Southall, and Windbichler labs) for a joint Fly Retreat at the Museum of London.
September 2016 - Royal Society Meeting
Members of the Cochemé Lab attended the Royal Society meeting on 'Chemical biology approaches to assessing and modulating mitochondria'. Lucie presented a poster at the conference, while Helena chaired a session.
August 2016 - Masters Success
Congratulations to our MSc student, Stephany! She was awarded her masters with Distinction, and received the highest ever grade on this course for her lab research project investigating fly stress responses and ageing. We are very proud of her achievements!
June 2016 - EMBO Crete Fly Meeting
Helena joins around 100 other Drosophila PIs at the 20th biennial EMBO Crete Fly Meeting.
June 2016 - Erasmus Success
Congratulations to our Erasmus student, Esther, who was short-listed for the prestigious ‘Professor Chris Gips Foundation Prize for Young Scientific Talent in Medicine’. This prize is awarded annually for an excellent research project by a Dutch medical student abroad, with each medical faculty in the Netherlands nominating a single candidate. Well done, Esther!
January 2016 - 'University of the Third Age' Visit
As part of public outreach activities, the Institute hosted a visit from the 'University of the Third Age' (U3A), an organisation which promotes learning amongst retired members of the community. The U3A group attended a series of talks, including a presentation by Helena on why the fly is such a useful model to study ageing and age-related diseases.
Read the full news story on the LMS website.
Read the full news story on the LMS website.
June 2015 - Redox Proteomics Study Published in Cell Reports
Our paper ‘Fasting, but Not Aging, Dramatically Alters the Redox Status of Cysteine Residues on Proteins in Drosophila melanogaster’ is published in Cell Reports. Read the paper here: Menger et al. 2015
This study is a collaboration with groups at the UCL Institute of Healthy Ageing and the MRC Mitochondrial Biology Unit in Cambridge.
See here for news coverage of the publication on the LMS website.
This study is a collaboration with groups at the UCL Institute of Healthy Ageing and the MRC Mitochondrial Biology Unit in Cambridge.
See here for news coverage of the publication on the LMS website.
June 2015 - Undergrad Success
Congratulations to our Imperial College undergraduate student, Emma! She was awarded the prize for the best final year lab project, on her research into fly stress responses and ageing.
March 2015 - Women@Imperial
Helena was selected to represent the Faculty of Medicine for the VIP launch event of the Women@Imperial showcase at the South Kensington campus, hosted by the Imperial College President Alice Gast. Together with Lucie and Esther from the lab, she demonstrated the use of fruit flies as a model for ageing research to members of the college, the general public, as well as invited guests including the Mayor of Kensington & Chelsea.
April 2014 - Rank Prize Funds Award
Congratulations to Helena on receiving the Rank Prize Funds award for the best contributed paper at the symposium ‘Oxidative stress: Does it play a role in life histories and ageing?’.
All participants at the meeting contributed to a review 'Oxidative stress and life histories: unresolved issues and current needs' published in Ecology and Evolution, which can be read here: Speakman et al. 2015
All participants at the meeting contributed to a review 'Oxidative stress and life histories: unresolved issues and current needs' published in Ecology and Evolution, which can be read here: Speakman et al. 2015