(Fly Liquid-Food Interaction Counter)

The FLIC system was co-developed by former Graduate Students Jenny Ro and Zachary Harvanek, along with Dr. Scott Pletcher, for the purpose of accurately measuring & recording the liquid food intake of individual flies over a period of time and under controlled conditions. The system is currently in use in several Drosophila laboratories across the United States, the United Kingdom,and China. For further information, please see WikiFlic.

The FLIC setup

Capturing neural activity in freely moving flies using CaMPARI captured by a high-powered Ultra-Violet LED through three aspheric condenser lenses.

Drosophila have a natural tendency to climb. The D-Drop takes advantage of this inherent behavior to determine overall fitness of a small group of flies, by forcing them to the bottom of a narrow channel using the force of gravity and acceleration. followed by a sudden stop. Tracking software, developed in-house, then tracks the fly movement as they naturally climb back up to the top of the channel. As the flies age over days and weeks, they presumably react slower as they climb back up. This device offers an accelerated method of gauging the flies health, as it is tied to their climbing abilities over time.

OPTO-DAM

(Drosophila Activity Monitor)

Lid with LED's for the horizontal DAM unit (inverted).

OPTO-Lifespan 

12 Vial rig, using blue LED's.