Abstract

“The functional elements of the nervous system and the neuronal circuits that process information are not genes, but cells. Therefore, the classical genetic methods that were so powerful in elucidating embryonic development and other processes in Drosophila will not be adequate to probe the function of the nervous system. Instead, we will need to be able to assay and manipulate the function of individual neuronal cells and cell types with the same facility as we can now assay and manipulate the function of individual genes. The intellectual framework for such an approach has been articulated by several research groups over the past ten years. But tools have been inadequate for the job. I will discuss our efforts to develop and apply some of the tools that will be required for a comprehensive, “brain-wide” analysis of the anatomy and function of the fly brain at the level of individual cell types and circuits.”