In 2000, a team including biologists Stephen Helfand and Robert Reenan, then at the University of Connecticut, discovered a gene that, if disabled by mutation, turned out to offer fruit flies the same lifespan-extending benefits as a calorie-limited diet. They called the gene Indy, for “I’m Not Dead, Yet.” This week, in conjunction with several institutions including Yale University, Helfand published a new paper in Cell Metabolism showing that mice lacking the gene experienced similar health benefits as the fruit flies, again without having to endure any actual calorie restrictions. “The present study shows that some of the positive effects of Indy on flies, and in other studies on C. elegans, can now be extended to mammals,” said Helfand, who came to Brown in 2005, as did Reenan. “It clearly demonstrates that a reduction in Indy activity can protect mice from the obesity or adiposity and insulin resistance associated with high-fat feeding, a Western-type diet, and aging.” Most importantly, he said, the last sentence of the abstract asserts: “Our studies demonstrate a profound effect of mIndy [mouse Indy] on mammalian energy metabolism and suggest that mINDY might be a therapeutic target for the treatment of obesity and type 2 diabetes.”