High-speed, 3D SCAPE Microscope Captures Stunning, Live Videos of Fruit Fly Nerve Cells in Action

Columbia engineers and neuroscientists have joined forces to create 3D videos of individual nerve cells moving, stretching and switching on inside free-roaming fruit fly larvae as they move. Data gleaned from these videos reveals how nerve cells called proprioceptive neurons work together to help the body sense where it is in space. To accomplish this feat, the researchers harnessed SCAPE, a cutting-edge microscope developed at Columbia that images neurons at lightning-fast speeds. These findings, published on March 7, 2019 in Current Biology, illustrate SCAPE’s ability to reveal the inner workings of the nervous system in unprecedented detail. By creating 3D, live action images of nerve cells in larvae as the animals crawled, SCAPE allowed the researchers to see exactly how those cells along the body wall reported movements back to the brain. This research was led by biomedical engineer Elizabeth Hillman, PhD, and neuroscientist Wesley Grueber, PhD. Learn more: