The project will produce 500 transgenic lines of fruit flies, the model organism of choice. The initial 24-month pilot phase of the project will focus on 10,000 neuronal protein pairs. A new $1million imaging system--custom-designed for the project, will generate over 1,000,000 3D images occupying 1TB of memory space. Analysis using the University's Center for Computational Science will reveal a network of interacting proteins within a living neuron.

While the current project focuses on the neurons under the normal condition, future expansions are probable to include disease-affected states as well as non-neuronal cells, bridging basic biology to advanced medicine. The new grant will also provide invaluable opportunities for undergraduate and graduate students in the College of Arts and Science to work side-by-side with the research team on a project at the cutting edge of scientific research and development.

Source: University of Miami