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Kaun Lab
Mar 28, 20244 min read
What ‘neutral’ odors can I use?
My lab performs lots of memory experiments: both Classical (Pavlovian) Conditioning experiments where a cue is presented at the same time...
1520


Kaun Lab
Mar 27, 20244 min read
Should I food deprive (starve) flies for behavior?
As with all behavioral neuroscience animal model experiments, food deprivation is used as a way to increase motivational response. This...
1340


Kaun Lab
Mar 26, 20245 min read
Should I use male or female flies for behavior?
Clearly "Should I use male or female flies for behavior?" is a trick question because there really is nothing limiting you from testing...
1380


Kaun Lab
Mar 25, 20243 min read
How should I clean fly behavior equipment?
It’s important to clean fly behavior equipment because flies leave feces and cuticular hydrocarbons on the behavior arena surface, and...
800


Kaun Lab
Mar 24, 20244 min read
Do I need to perform a blinded experiment?
When you first learn experimental design, you learn all the best ways to control your experiments and prevent bias from infiltrating your...
610

Kaun Lab
Mar 23, 20243 min read
Should I watch the flies behave?
More and more the behavioral neuroscience field is moving toward using highly efficient and high-content behavioral tracking software to...
740

Kaun Lab
Mar 22, 20245 min read
What controls should I use for behavior experiments?
When I first started working on flies, I had no knowledge of genetics or insects. My limited undergraduate research experience included a...
740


Kaun Lab
Mar 21, 20244 min read
How do I perform optogenetic behavior experiments?
Optogenetics is a great way to temporarily control neuronal function. It’s typically used for light-controlled activation or inhibition...
830


Kaun Lab
Mar 20, 20244 min read
How do I humidify air and CO2?
Flies can sense humidity in their environment, and change their behavior when the air is too wet or dry (more on this on ‘Does humidity...
980


Kaun Lab
Mar 19, 20242 min read
How do I make and use a fly aspirator?
When you perform fly behavior experiments, you don’t want to use recently anesthetized flies since the common anesthesia that we use...
1320

Kaun Lab
Mar 18, 20243 min read
Does the size of my flies matter for behavior?
The size of your flies could affect their behavior, but it may depend on the type of behavior you are measuring. Fly size can be directly...
740


Kaun Lab
Mar 17, 20242 min read
Do ambient odors affect fly behavior?
Drosophila have one of the best characterized olfactory systems of any animal (for a great overview, read Benton, 2022). Flies use...
640


Kaun Lab
Mar 17, 20241 min read
Brain Waves RI 2024
Dr. John Hernandez and Tariq Brown had a great time participating in Brain Waves RI 2024, the big annual Neuroscience outreach...
27

Kaun Lab
Mar 17, 20242 min read
Does lighting affect fly behavior?
In order to get the most accurate behavior tracking, we create environments that are very artificial to flies. We also need to get very...
420

Kaun Lab
Mar 15, 20242 min read
How do I build a simple tracking system for fly behavior?
One of the nice things about working with flies is that you can build a simple, cost-efficient tracking system pretty easily. In the lab...
1000


Kaun Lab
Mar 15, 20241 min read
How do I stop the flies from climbing?
Flies demonstrate negative geotaxis, an innate escape response during which flies ascend the walls of whatever chamber they are in. In...
650

Kaun Lab
Mar 13, 20242 min read
Does isolating flies affect behavior?
Flies have more complex social lives than have really been appreciated by a lot of the field of fly behavioral neurogenetics. I wrote a...
630


Kaun Lab
Mar 12, 20241 min read
Do thunderstorms affect fly behavior?
My PhD advisor, Dr. Marla Sokolowski, at the University of Toronto always told us that she felt Drosophila adult or larval behavior was...
870

Kaun Lab
Mar 11, 20242 min read
How long can I anesthetize my flies?
As you probably know, carbon dioxide (CO2) is the most popular anesthesia for fly pushing. It immobilizes flies quickly and flies wake up...
2420

Kaun Lab
Mar 10, 20242 min read
What materials should I use for building behavior arenas?
We use lots of specialty items in building Drosophila behavior arenas and tracking systems, but sometimes it’s difficult to know where to...
722
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