- 4.fly.brains
- medium: inkjet print of composite digital image, on canvas
- layers: confocal micrographs of the developing nervous system of fruit fly larvae, drawings
- size: 120 x 60cm
- research: the fruit fly, Drosophila melanogaster, is used as a model to understand how communication between neighbouring cells, via specialized channels called gap junctions, shapes the development of the nervous system. Specimens were stained with red and green fluorescent molecules that attach to different gap-junction proteins. Images (red-green merged) were selected from a series of approximately 80 taken at 1micrometre intervals through the nervous systems. In humans, as in flies, gap junctions are essential for normal development and function of body tissues. Loss of these junctions is associated with various disorders including deafness, cataract and nerve cell degeneration.
- Dr. Pauline Phelan Lecturer in Cell Biology