Drosophila: the century-long flight from the wild to the patient

<b>Background:</b> Evolutionary conservation of key biological pathways between the fruit fly <i>Drosophila melanogaster</i> and humans and reduced genetic redundancy have long made flies a valuable genetic model organism. Thanks to the arsenal of sophisticated genetic tools developed and refined by the fly community, the use of <i>Drosophila</i> has expanded well beyond basic research. From the fundamental notion that genes are located on chromosomes to modeling human complex diseases such as cancer and neurological disorders, to designing fly "avatar" lines that precisely reproduce the specific mutations found in single cancer patients for personalized medicine, <i>Drosophila</i> continues to fuel biomedical advances. Numerous examples of drug testing in flies have yielded novel drug candidates, new uses for approved drugs, and applications for rapid drug optimization in modern approaches combining biology with medicinal chemistry. Thanks to the effectiveness of "fly pharmacology" approaches, <i>Drosophila</i> is also proficiently used to study the mechanism of action of environmental pollutants that represent a serious concern to human health. This review traces the history of some of the main advances in <i>Drosophila</i> biomedical and cancer research.