University of Miami, Miller School of Medicine

3 ARTICLES PUBLISHED IN JoVE

Neuroscience

Assaying Locomotor, Learning, and Memory Deficits in Drosophila Models of Neurodegeneration

Yousuf O. Ali¹, Wilfredo Escala¹, Kai Ruan¹, R. Grace Zhai¹

¹Department of Molecular and Cellular Pharmacology, University of Miami, Miller School of Medicine

Behavior assays for measuring locomotor functions, learning, and memory abilities in Drosophila.

Biology

Optimal Lentivirus Production and Cell Culture Conditions Necessary to Successfully Transduce Primary Human Bronchial Epithelial Cells

Nathalie Baumlin-Schmid¹, Matthias Salathe¹, Nevis L. Fregien²

¹Division of Pulmonary, Allergy, Critical Care, and Sleep Medicine, University of Miami, Miller School of Medicine, ²Department of Cell Biology, University of Miami, Miller School of Medicine

Primary human bronchial epithelial cells are difficult to transduce. This protocol describes the production of lentiviruses and their concentration as well as the optimal culture conditions necessary to achieve highly efficient transductions in these cells throughout differentiation to a pseudostratified epithelium.

Neuroscience

Quantitative Cell Biology of Neurodegeneration in Drosophila Through Unbiased Analysis of Fluorescently Tagged Proteins Using ImageJ

Jennifer M. Brazill¹, Yi Zhu¹, Chong Li¹, R. Grace Zhai^1,2

¹Department of Molecular and Cellular Pharmacology, University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, ²School of Pharmacy, Key Laboratory of Molecular Pharmacology and Drug Evaluation (Yantai University), Ministry of Education, Collaborative Innovation Center of Advanced Drug Delivery System and Biotech Drugs in Universities of Shandong, Yantai University

We have developed a simple and adaptable workflow to extract quantitative data from fluorescence-imaging-based cell biological studies of protein aggregation and autophagic flux in the central nervous system of Drosophila models of neurodegeneration.