Today, thanks to doctoral student Cheyenne Tait, we successfully visualized synaptic activity in the apple fly brain in real time for the first time with our new optical imaging system!
Lab Meeting
Today we discussed essential oils, diurnal effects on field behavior, electrophysiological troubleshooting, had a great discussion on neuromodulation, and even demo’d a mini wind tunnel. I love this lab!
Welcome new NICE members
The NICE Group is proud to welcome Cheyenne Tait and Dr. VS Pragadheesh! Cheyenne will be examining the chemosensory basis for host shifts in Rhagoletis, and Dr. Pragadheesh will be helping us analyze the chemical signals that underlie complex odor object recognition in several systems. A Warm Welcome to you both!
Dinner with Friends!
Having dinner with Chemical Ecology friends from 4 continents at the Krishnan School at NCBS!
KS Krishnan School for Chemical Ecology
We are pleased to be currently co-organizing the KS Krishnan School for chemical ecology at NCBS:
https://www.ncbs.res.in/ChemicalEcology/SERB-school-2015
Chemical Ecology and the Prime Minister
Today Shannon had the opportunity to personally discuss the biodiversity and amazing opportunities for chemical ecology here in India with the Honorable Prime Minister Modi. Thank you, sir for kindly listening to me and for taking the amazing possibilities for Indian chemical ecology to heart.
Link
Our international hoverfly project has a new Facebook page. Check it out and see what we are up to! Don’t forget to click “like” to stay updated on progress!
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Pollinera-Mera/326628544193999
Also, please see our project blog for information as our 2015 field season starts!
Welcome Subha!
The NICE lab is very pleased to welcome Sree Subha Ramaswamy, who is completing her Masters project with us from SASTRA University, Thanjavur for the next months.
Subha is currently comparing neuromodulator levels in several species of Tephtitid flies. She has already perfected isolating the fly brain, which at <1mm, is no small task!
Welcome , aboard, Subha!
Status
This week we had 3 small but important successes in the lab: 1) Srishti recorded OSN signals for the first time. 2) Suhrid identified local species of hoverflies and observed our pandemic species on campus. 3) Subha perfectly dissected her first fly brain. Sometimes it’s the little things that make the biggest difference! Keep up the good work NICE lab!
We’re up and running!
First rig is up and running! There’s nothing like the sound of neurons firing in the morning ….
NICE 