8/28/14 The study of fruit fly brains is popular with many neuromodulation laboratories because the fruit fly has fewer neuro connections than a human brain, thus enabling the understanding of the human brain on a much smaller scale. This study was conducted at the University of Sheffield’s Department of Biomedical Science. The study resulted in gained knowledge of the flies’ inner and outer receptors and how color and motion signals interact in the brain. The holding fixture that properly fixated the fruit fly brain for imagery was designed and fabricated at MES to satisfy a solution for measuring the brain’s response to motion.
The results show that fly brain uses inputs from photoreceptors that are sensitive to different colors to improve its motion perception. The neural networks, at a microscopic level, are very similar between fruit flies and humans, which makes it easier to study brain processes. Medical and drug delivery devices require micro fabrication technology to advance their research and to gain an understanding of how the human brain and other organs function.