Facilities Fly
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PLAMEN GEORGIEV
MEMBERS
2004-2007 Ph.D. studies in Molecular biology & Genetics at Cambridge University, Cambridge, UK 2007-2010 Postdoctoral fellow at the Babraham Institute, Cambridge, UK
Technicians Miglena Asenova Vinitha Manjunath
Elena Wiesler
The fruit fly Drosophila is one of the most extensively characterized metazoan organisms. Over more than 100 years since it was introduced as an experimental animal model for biological research, it has allowed for key biological concepts and phenomena to be elucidated, leading to some of biology’s fundamental findings, including the chromosomal theory of heredity and basic genetic mechanisms underlying animal development and evolution. Importantly, many aspects of development and behaviour in Drosophila parallel those in humans. The completion of both the human and Drosophila genome sequencing projects revealed that more than 75% of human genetic disease genes have clear homologues in the fruit fly. Taking advantage of the significantly shorter life cycle, large number of offspring and powerful array of genetic and molecular tools available in Drosophila, it is now feasible to perform large-scale genetic screens in Drosophila to identify novel drugs and therapeutic targets. The Fly facility was set up in 2010 upon recruitment of Dr Asifa Akhtar. The facility contains a fly room with 7 dissection microscopes and CO2 supply for day-to-day fly pushing and a stereo microscope for fluorescent imaging. Attached to the fly room are 25°C and 18°C light-, temperature- and humidity-controlled rooms for fly stocks. In addition, there are separate rooms allocated for large population cages allowing embryo collections for chromatin isolation and an 18°C room for a collection of mutant and transgenic lines maintained to facilitate rapid
Since 2010 Head of the Fly Facility at the Max Planck Institute of Immunobiology and Epigenetics, Freiburg, Germany
amplification upon request. In addition, a fly food preparation kitchen with a large production capacity has been established for the maintenance of these flies as well as for the daily needs of the fly groups. A state-of-the-art microinjection unit equipped with an inverted microscope, Eppendorf Femtojet, micromanipulator and embryo aligning stage, allows Drosophila embryo transformation and generation of transgenic animals using transposase-mediated random insertion as well as integrase-mediated site-specific integration of transgenic constructs. At present there are four research groups at the MPI-IE using Drosophila as a model organism and the fly facility aims to offer an organized infrastructure, consult and support in applying advanced genetic techniques (such as gene targeting by homologous recombination or TALENS, ZFNs, CRISPR/Cas9-based methods for genome engineering), designing large-scale forward genetic screens and developing new genetic techniques for the specific needs of the fly-related research of these groups.