Laboratory fruit fly research. Larvae and pupae of the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster being handled by a researcher. These fruit flies are being used for experimental infections to help understand the mechanisms responsible for neurodegeneration in prion diseases. Prions are misfolded proteins that are thought to cause or contribute to diseases such as transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (TSEs), Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, and motor neurone disease. Photographed in 2019, in the IRD Vectopole Sud laboratory in Montpellier, France.