Neuroscience
Scientists have published staggering new images of the fruit fly using a new technique called 'optical projection tomography' - check out the movie below which shows optical sections through the frontal plane of an adult fly. The fluorescent channel (green) delineates the anatomy, and the brightfield channel (red) marks out the exoskeleton.
The technique means scientists no longer have to dissect the flies by hand to observe how genetic changes influence the loss of brain cells.
According to Dr Mary O’Connell of the MRC Human Genetics Unit, who led the research, the brain cell loss that affects humans in conditions like Alzheimer's, also affects insects. "In the autumn, bees and wasps often develop erratic behaviour before they die," she said.
Now with this new imaging technique the researchers will be able to look at how changes in gene activity are related to brain changes in the fly. And because fruit flies share many of the same genes as humans, the research will help us understand disease processes in humans too. The findings are published in the open-access journal PLoS One.
Post written by Christian Jarrett (@psych_writer) for the BPS Research Digest.
Link PLoS journal article.
Link to MRC press release.
Hat tip: Guardian Science.
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Neuroscience
Brain scanning the fruit fly
Scientists have published staggering new images of the fruit fly using a new technique called 'optical projection tomography' - check out the movie below which shows optical sections through the frontal plane of an adult fly. The fluorescent channel (green) delineates the anatomy, and the brightfield channel (red) marks out the exoskeleton.
The technique means scientists no longer have to dissect the flies by hand to observe how genetic changes influence the loss of brain cells.
According to Dr Mary O’Connell of the MRC Human Genetics Unit, who led the research, the brain cell loss that affects humans in conditions like Alzheimer's, also affects insects. "In the autumn, bees and wasps often develop erratic behaviour before they die," she said.
Now with this new imaging technique the researchers will be able to look at how changes in gene activity are related to brain changes in the fly. And because fruit flies share many of the same genes as humans, the research will help us understand disease processes in humans too. The findings are published in the open-access journal PLoS One.
Post written by Christian Jarrett (@psych_writer) for the BPS Research Digest.
Link PLoS journal article.
Link to MRC press release.
Hat tip: Guardian Science.
- Behind The News
Connecting you to the psychological science behind the news: Prozac, used by 40m people, does not work say scientists (The Guardian). Anti-depressants 'no better than dummy pills' (Daily Telegraph). Link to the journal source (open access). Link...
- "tabloid Language" In Nature Neuroscience
Disco Drosophila By now, everyone has read about the so-called "homosexual" (actually bisexual) fruit flies (Grosjean et al., 2007):1 Study finds gay gene in fruit flies SUMMARY: Scientists have found that a gene can turn on and off homosexual impulses...
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TED Talk: Gero Miesenboeck reengineers a brain July 2010 Watch the talk here "In the quest to map the brain, many scientists have attempted the incredibly daunting task of recording the activity of each neuron. Gero Miesenboeck works backward -- manipulating...
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From an NIH press release: Study Implicates Potassium Channel Mutations in Neurodegeneration and Mental Retardation For the first time, researchers have linked mutations in a gene that regulates how potassium enters cells to a neurodegenerative disease...
- Evo Devo Explained
A book review in the Oct. 24, 2005 issue of the New Yorker by H. Allen Orr explains a bit about “evo devo” (evolutionary developmental biology), and finally clarifies for me what “ontogeny recapitulates phylogeny” means. Last things first: the...