I BELIEVE I CAN FLY

Speaker: Samuel C. Lieber

Advisor: Dr. Nadine Aubry

Abstract

Delineating the roles of genes in cardiovascular disease is critical to advance treatments (ie. Gene Therapy) and obtain an understanding on how normal and diseased cardiac function is expressed in genetic phenotypes. Researchers are moving toward investigation of these genetic effects in less complex organisms such as Drosophila melanogaster (fruit fly) which allow easy genetic manipulations. Mechanical testing of fly cardiac function (Heart Rate) allows research in the role of genetic mechanisms in cardiac function to be performed. We have developed a system for monitoring the in vivo heart function of adult Drosophila Melanogaster based on previous published methods. The flies were anaesthetized and mounted on glass slides and observed with a Nikon Eclipse ME 600 and a x20 objective. The heart was visualized by closing the diaphragm so that the light beam is concentrated on the first ventricle of the heart. Video of the first cardiac ventricle was digitally acquired by using a Digital Color 30 frames/sec CCD Camera (Imaging Source), attached  to a computer system equipped with a frame grabber card and image acquisition software (Pinnacle). The heart rate was measured by using a custom image analysis software (MatLab, Mathworks), which allowed measurement of ventricular dimensions throughout the heart cycle. This technique allows us to observe heart rate changes at different ages, and phenotypes. The device design, experiments conducted, and future goals will be presented and discussed.