Miniature System for Manipulating Small Animals in High-Throughput Screening Small Molecules

Whole Animal Feeding Flat (WAFFL): A High-throughput Platform for the Automated Handling of FliesDrosophila is well-suited organism to be use in high-throughput studies due to their short, defined life cycle and genetic tools. However, current high-throughput fly methodologies are not ideal. They can require a significant amount of fly manipulation, the use of anesthetics, and a large quantity of drug or materials.Inventors at the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases of the National Institutes of Health have developed an elegant solution. This 96-well system called the Whole Animal Feeding Flat (WAFFL) enables the housing and feeding of flies while reducing the number of manipulations. The WAFFL system is comprised of four main units: (1) Food Reservoir, (2) Feeder (housing), (3) Receiver and (4) Transfer Adapter and is compatible with standard laboratory equipment. The system has been validated for reliability and reproducibility of study results.
Source: NIDDK Research Materials - Category: Research Source Type: research