Combining molecular cloning techniques and the versatile genetic toolkit in Drosophila, we generate and use mutant and transgenic fly lines to manipulate and report gene expression and neuronal activity in specific area in the fly nervous system.
Using confocal microscopy and fluorescent reporters such as GCaMPs, CAMPARI, and synaptopHluorin, we monitor neuronal activity in target areas of the ex vivo fly brain.
By measuring the bioluminescence emitted from transgenic flies that carry derivatives of firefly luciferase, we can easily monitor in vivo circadian clock gene expression and intracellular calcium concentrations.
Above are the well-established techniques used in the lab and we are currently expanding our methods to include CRISPR-based gene editing, RNASeq, Electroretinogram and Optogenetics.
