Description

You may be thinking: "Flies have brains?!". Yes, even tiny fruit flies have brains. While you may easily confuse their brain for a speck of dust, they are equipped with the ability to make finely tuned decisions based on conditions of the world around them, their memories, and their internal state.

In this image, we've genetically modified a fly to express fluorescent protein in select neurons controlling sensory behaviors like wakefulness. With a laser, we excite the protein and image the brain, revealing individual neurons. Sitting in our dark microscopy room, observing these miniscule, glowing superhighways fills me with gratitude for my work. So why am I looking at these miniscule superhighways? Our lab delves into neuronal mechanisms for sensing the environment, starting with fruit flies as a model. This research lays the groundwork for understanding sensory systems in mosquitoes, the world's deadliest animals. Ultimately, through our work in fruit flies and mosquitos, we aim to disrupt mosquito sensory systems to curb the spread of vector-borne diseases.