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SEEDS INTERNSHIP: Ecological Relevance of Memory in the Fruit Fly
Project Description
This internship project focuses on understanding how learning and memory operate in an ecologically meaningful context, using the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster as a model system. In the real world, female fruit flies must make decisions about where to lay their eggs that are fitness-critical because the host provides the food source for developing larvae. Choosing an appropriate fruit host directly affects offspring survival, because fruits differ in nutritional quality, microbial communities, and the presence of toxins or competitors. The ability to learn from experience—remembering which fruits are found to be useful hosts and which are not—is therefore a key ecological and evolutionary task for these insects. The student will investigate how fruit flies form and use appetitive (reward-based) and aversive (punishment-based) memories associated with different fruit hosts. Through hands-on laboratory work, the intern will help design and conduct experiments that test how flies learn about fruit quality and how long those memories persist. These experiments will connect classic learning and memory paradigms to real-world ecological challenges faced by flies in their natural environments. Overall, this project provides an integrative research experience at the intersection of behavior, evolution and ecology, offering the student a strong foundation in experimental design, quantitative thinking, and collaborative scientific research. It is important that the intern has some previous experience of entomological work.
Research themes
Project Specific Training
Internship project work plan: Full-time
Week 1 – Orientation and Core Skills
• Lab induction, safety training, and introduction to lab culture
• Background reading and discussions on insect learning, memory, and ecological relevance of fruit host choice
• Training in basic fly husbandry (stock maintenance, transferring, sexing)
• Observation of memory assays and participation in lab meetings
Week 2 – Experimental Design and Media Preparation
• Experimental design discussions with postdoc
• Training in media preparation:
o Standard fly food
o Fruit-based or modified media relevant to host choice
• Setting up age-matched experimental fly cohorts
• Beginning appetitive and aversive learning experiments
Weeks 3–6 – Learning and Memory Experiments
• Running appetitive and aversive conditioning assays using fruit-associated cues
• Performing memory tests at defined time points
• Measuring behavioral outcomes related to fruit preference and oviposition
• Ongoing fly husbandry and media preparation
• Data collection, basic analysis, and weekly discussion of results
• Refinement of experimental design and increased replication
Week 7 – Data Analysis and Presentation
• Final data analysis and figure preparation
• Interpretation of results in an ecological context
• Preparation and delivery of a short presentation or written report to the lab
• Discussion of limitations and future directions
Please note that this project cannot be completed at less than 50% of full time because of the need to work with live animals who require husbandry. There is limited flexibility over the timing of experiments, which must be performed in a full-day block, 72h after acclimatization of the animals begins in each iteration. Week 1 – Orientation and Core Skills • Lab induction, safety training, and introduction to lab culture • Training in basic fly husbandry (stock maintenance, transferring, sexing) • Observation of memory assays Week 2 – Start of Experiments • Background reading and discussions on insect learning, memory, and ecological relevance of fruit host choice • Setting up age-matched experimental fly cohorts • Beginning appetitive and aversive learning experiments Weeks 3–6 – Learning and Memory Experiments • Running appetitive and aversive conditioning assays using fruit-associated cues • Performing memory tests at defined time points • Measuring behavioral outcomes related to fruit preference and oviposition • Ongoing fly husbandry and media preparation • Data collection, basic analysis, and weekly discussion of results • Refinement of experimental design and increased replication Week 7 – Data Analysis and Presentation • Final experimental work • Final data analysis and figure preparation • Preparation and delivery of a short presentation or written report to the lab
Project supervisor/s
Elli Leadbeater
Genetics, Evolution and Environment
University College London
ellouise.leadbeater@ucl.ac.uk
Flo Camus
Genetics, Evolution and Environment
University College London
f.camus@ucl.ac.uk