Long-term fruit fly experiments made possible with simulations

Santhadevi Jeyabalan [1], LSA - Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology, worked with ITD technologists to develop a copmuter program for her upper level genetics laboratory course that simulates later stages of a fruit fly experiment. The students begin the experiment with real fruit flies but complete it using CyberFly simulation in the Science Learning Center. Cyberfly replicates the visual and audio aspects of a fruit fly experiment in which students collect and analyze data leading to the location of mutant genes on different chromosomes.

The program provides information for collection and analysis, without coaching the student, unlike commercially available software. Jeyabalan is working to develop introductory level and K-12 versions of the software.