Mind alteration device makes fruit flies sing and dance
Monday, May 26, 2014 - 18:30
in Biology & Nature
In a joint effort, with collaboration partners from the Vienna University of Technology and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, the team of Andrew Straw at the Research Institute of Molecular Pathology (IMP) developed a special device for the thermogenetic control of flies. This tool, called FlyMAD, enabled the scientists to target light or heat to specific body regions of flies in motion and to analyse the animals' brain cells. Compared to other techniques, FlyMAD allows highly improved temporal resolution. Using the new technology, Straw and his colleagues got new insight into the role of two neuronal cell types in courtship behavior of flies.