March 2013 // Imagine Science Films Unveils The Fly Room Project
SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN
A new exhibit and feature production about the birthplace of American Genetics.
February 2013 // Narrative Alchemy: From Vision to Visual
AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY
An essay on the portrayal of scientific storytelling, vision and cinema.
Note: American Chemical Society recently greenlighted an anthology book in its Symposium Series entitled “Hollywood Chemistry and invited me to be one of the contributors.
March 2011 // Two-color in vivo imaging of photoreceptor apoptosis and development in Drosophila.
DEVELOPMENTAL BIOLOGY 128–134 (2011). Gambis, A., Dourlen P., Steller H. & Mollereau B. [LINK TO ARTICLE]
Abstract // We report a new two-color fluorescent imaging system to visualize the mosaic adult photoreceptor neurons (PRs) in real-time. Using this method, we examined a collection of 434 mutants and identified genes required for PR survival, planar cell polarity (PCP), patterning and differentiation. We could track the progression of PR degeneration in living flies. By introducing the expression of p35, a caspase inhibitor, we found mutations that specifically activate caspase-dependent death. Moreover, we showed that grh is required in R3 for correct PCP establishment. The “Tomato/GFP-FLP/FRT” method allows high-throughput, rapid and precise identification of survival and developmental pathways in living adult PRs at single cell resolution.
Note: The two-color fluorescent imaging system was awarded the cover art of the March 2011 Dev. Bio issue.The technique was developed over the course of my doctoral years (2004-09) in the Laboratory of Apoptosis & Cancer under the supervision of Hermann Steller.
April 2007 // Launching The Science Film Initiative
NATURAL SELECTIONS [LINK TO ARTICLE]
Note: Essay in Natural Selections, a Rockefeller University monthly newsletter
“I also occasionally reminisce about the transforming machine in the movie The Fly when I find myself in the fly room staring at fruit flies under the microscope. Film has also been helpful in raising the ethical boundaries and philosophical undertones of science”.
