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Teaching report: the use of Drosophila melanogaster larval thermosensitive escape behaviour as a model system to demonstrate sensory function

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Invertebrate Neuroscience

Abstract

We describe how a novel thermosensitive escape behaviour in Drosophila larvae can be used to teach neurobiology principles to both undergraduates and school children. The assays are inexpensive, robust and reliably accurate employing apparatus readily available in most science classrooms. The use of Drosophila avoids the employment of vertebrate models and the ethical and expense issues that this entails. We use this practical to effectively teach the principals of calibration and neural sensory responses to post-16-year-old students and undergraduate students.

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Acknowledgments

Eileen Gilhooly and the sixth form Biology Class from King James’s School Knaresborough who tried this practical first. Trevor Illingworth, York Biology Electronics Workshops for amplifier manufacture. The authors would also like to thank BBSRC for support through the Regional Schools Champion Scheme.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biology (Area 1), University of York, P.O. Box 373, York, YO10 5YW, UK

    Adrian B. Harrison, Matthew Oswald & Sean T. Sweeney

Authors
  1. Adrian B. Harrison
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  2. Matthew Oswald
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  3. Sean T. Sweeney
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Correspondence to Adrian B. Harrison.

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Harrison, A.B., Oswald, M. & Sweeney, S.T. Teaching report: the use of Drosophila melanogaster larval thermosensitive escape behaviour as a model system to demonstrate sensory function. Invert Neurosci 11, 109–112 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10158-011-0123-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10158-011-0123-4

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