My current research is focussed on using Drosophila to analyse the cellular and molecular mechanism controlling nervous system development. My work currently addresses a number of different problems. The role of early developing embryonic sensory neurons in controlling the assembly of ordered sensory central projections - In Drosophila , like all higher animals, the central projections of sensory neurons are highly ordered, showing both modality specific segregation and somatotopic ordering. We have shown that the assembly of these ordered arrays could be achieved by the carefully controlled development of a small number of embryonic sensory neurons which lay down the basic axonal scaffold of the whole system. This project is made easier by Green Fluorescent Protein transgenes, which allow us to visualise sensory axon growth in vivo .
Preliminary data are encouraging.
We are seeing significant defects in sensory axons following the ablation of key sensory axons. Thus I have defined a new mechanism controlling the development of ordered sensory axon arrays. An extension of the laser ablation project is to use the laser to selectively activate gene expression in selected single neurons. The technique was originally developed on C. elegans . Using flies transformed with heat-shock promoter driven constructs we can use the laser to heat shock single identified neurons.