The Drosophila pipeline for modeling human disease. The Drosophila pipeline for modeling human disease. Candidate disease-causing mutations are identified using variant sequence data obtained from patient sources, including whole-genome and exome sequence datasets. When Drosophila orthologs of candidate disease-causing genes are identified, they can be targeted for disruption and/or a human gene variant can be introduced into the fly genome; phenotypic studies are used to assess validity of the model. Upon validation, fly models of human disease and development can be used as screening platforms for the identification of additional genes and variants involved in the conserved disease/development process, and for the identification of drugs and therapies. Matthew J. Moulton, and Anthea Letsou Dis. Model. Mech. 2016;9:253-269 © 2016. Published by The Company of Biologists Ltd