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Virtual Fly Brain, or VFB, is an interactive, web-based tool that allows
neurobiologist A neuroscientist (or neurobiologist) is a scientist who has specialised knowledge in neuroscience, a branch of biology that deals with the physiology, biochemistry, psychology, anatomy and molecular biology of neurons, neural circuits, and glial c ...
s to explore the detailed neuroanatomy, transgene expression and associated phenotypes of the '' Drosophila melanogaster'' brain. Users can browse painted 3D image stacks of the ''Drosophila'' brain, choosing any plane of section they want and clicking on painted regions to find names' definitions, references and synonyms for the chosen region. For each region, they can run queries to find neurons, transgene expression and phenotypes. For each neuron found, users can browse definitions, references and synonyms.


Background

Virtual Fly Brain is a generic web-based application that allows browsing of 3D image stacks and querying of the underlying anatomy and expression database that is maintained by FlyBase. Th
Virtual Fly Brain
project is carried out by researchers at the University of Cambridge and the University of Edinburgh.


Technical details

Virtual Fly Brain uses an ontological model of ''Drosophila'' anatomy written in OWL2 and based on the ''Drosophila'' literature. This contains detailed information about both gross neuroanatomy, neuron classes and the relationships between them. Underlying each neuroanatomy query is a query of this ontology in OWL-DL. Queries of phenotype and expression utilise the large volume of expression and phenotype data in FlyBase annotated using the ''Drosophila'' anatomy ontology. Each expression or phenotype query starts with a query of the anatomy ontology for terms appropriate to the chosen region. The output of this query is then used as input for a query of the FlyBase chado database for expression or phenotype annotated using these terms. Images in the viewer are delivered as a series of tiles covering only the visible area in the browser window. The tiles are produced from a compound 3D Woolz object representing the overall structure and individual painted domains.


See also

* Insect brain * Drosophila connectome * Ganglion mother cell * Pigment dispersing factor


References

{{Reflist


External links


virtualflybrain.org

FlyBase
Neuroanatomy Drosophila melanogaster Invertebrate nervous system