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The answer to this seemingly absurd question is, quite definitely, yes. Now, I don’t mean that a fly is going to give you mouth-to-mouth or save you from a burning building. But if you ever have to take pharmaceutical drugs for a health condition such as cancer, it is quite possible that those drugs will have been developed with the help of research conducted using fruit flies – those same small flies that swarm around your compost heap in the summer.

In 2001, the Novartis drug imatinib revolutionised the treatment of chronic myeloid leukaemia, and so began a highly exciting era in cancer treatment: the era of targeted drug therapies. These differ from traditional chemotherapy drugs in their ability to knock down a specific biological pathway in a cancer cell that is essential for its malignant behaviour.

So… when do you think they’ll find a cure for cancer?

Imagine you’re in a dark room trying to solve a puzzle, but your only source of light is a narrow slit that illuminates just a single piece at a time. That might give some idea what it’s like to look for signs that a cancer has recurred for patients with myeloma, a cancer of the bone marrow.

ICR scientists find four new genetic variants linked to myeloma, including a gene called TERC, previously linked to the ageing process.

Giving men with stage 2 testicular cancer a single dose of carboplatin alongside radiotherapy could improve treatment effectiveness and reduce the risk of long-term side-effects, an ICR study reports.

New 'BEACON' trial led by ICR scientists aims to tackle treatment-resistant form of childhood cancer neuroblastoma.

Scientists discover that experimental drugs first developed for breast and ovarian cancer could be used to treat the most common type of lung cancer.

A combination of two hormone therapy drugs does not provide significant clinical benefit over single-drug treatments, according to a trial.

The ICR’s annual Mel Greaves Science Writing Prize – named in honour of the ICR Professor of Cell Biology and popular science author Professor Mel Greaves – aims to encourage imaginative writing about science that is engaging and understandable not only for fellow scientists but also for the wider public.

This week, Luke Johnson, one of the UK’s most successful entrepreneurs and former Chairman of Channel 4, joins the ICR as Chairman.