In The News
22 January 2016
Off the Beat: Fly-flipping robot joins Stowers scientists
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Fly Stocks
The Fly Stock team houses and maintains more than a thousand unique fruit fly (Drosophila) stocks for many Stowers laboratories that use this research organism in their scientific programs.
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Publications
Overview of Services
Research Services
The Fly Stock Facility operates a custom-designed robotic fruit fly vial transfer system that automatically transfers live fruit flies from their existing vial to a new vial containing fresh food. Once a program is initiated, the system can transfer hundreds ofDrosophila colonies without human intervention. The robotic system provides a high level of quality control and frees a significant amount of researcher time for other tasks. The Fly Stock team also prepares and delivers both syrup-based and molasses-based fly food media for Drosophila research programs. With the media being prepared on-site, there are a variety of bottles, vials, and closures available to all Drosophila laboratories.
Technology
- Fly Transferring Robot
- 215-Liquid handler Fly Media Dispenser
- Vial Plug Press
Team Contact
Stacey Walker
Laboratory Services Supervisor
Stowers Institute for Medical Research
Stacey Walker joined the Institute in 2012 and has served multiple roles within the Fly Stock Facility and Lab Services. In 2018, she was appointed Laboratory Services Supervisor, where she oversees the Fly Stock Facility team which provides services to the labs and technology centers that utilize Drosophila. These services include managing the state-of-the-art fly transfer robot, the preparation of high-quality fly food media, and the housing and maintenance of numerous Drosophila stocks. Walker completed the European Molecular Biology Organization’s Leadership/Lab Management course for scientific group leaders in 2019. She is a graduate of the University of Central Missouri.
Fly Stocks and Robot
The Fly Stock Facility houses and maintains numerous Drosophila stocks for research laboratories. They also operate a state-of-the-art Fly Transfer Robot, used by research and core laboratories to transfer Drosophila stocks from old vials to new vials with fresh fly food media.
Fly Robot
Featured Publications
Multiple Niche Compartments Orchestrate Stepwise Germline Stem Cell Progeny Differentiation
Tu R, Duan B, Song X, Chen S, Scott A, Hall K, Blanck J, DeGraffenreid D, Li H, Perera A, Haug J, Xie T. Curr Biol. 2021;31:827-839 e823.
A six-amino-acid motif is a major determinant in functional evolution of HOX1 proteins
Singh NP, De Kumar B, Paulson A, Parrish ME, Zhang Y, Florens L, Conaway JW, Si K, Krumlauf R. Genes Dev. 2020;34:1680-1696.
Genetic background impacts the timing of synaptonemal complex breakdown in Drosophila melanogaster
Wesley ER, Hawley RS, Billmyre KK. Chromosoma. 2020;129:243-254.
Miller DE, Kahsai L, Buddika K, Dixon MJ, Kim BY, Calvi BR, Sokol NS, Hawley RS, Cook KR. [published ahead of print September 26 2020]. G3 (Bethesda). 2020.
Wampa is a dynein subunit required for axonemal assembly and male fertility in Drosophila
Bauerly E, Yi K, Gibson MC. Dev Biol. 2020;463:158-168.
Tu R, Duan B, Song X, Xie T. Sci Adv 2020;6:eaaz0480.
