Automated monitoring and quantitative analysis of feeding behaviour in Drosophila
Itskov PM, Moreira JM, Vinnik E, Lopes G, Safarik S, Dickinson MH, Ribeiro C
Application
Food Intake Measurement
Quantify food consumption in individual Drosophila with single-sip resolution. No dyes, no manual scoring, no observer bias.
How It Works
The flyPAD measures food intake by detecting capacitance changes each time a fly extends its proboscis to interact with food. Two electrodes — one beneath the fly and one embedded in the food substrate — form a sensor that registers individual sips at 100 Hz.
Each sip event is timestamped and logged automatically. Total food intake is calculated from the cumulative number and duration of sip events over the experimental period, providing a precise, dye-free quantification of consumption.
Data acquisition runs through the open-source Bonsai framework, enabling real-time monitoring of feeding activity across up to 96 channels per unit.
What You Can Measure
The flyPAD captures detailed food intake parameters from individual flies.
Total Sip Count
Cumulative number of proboscis-food interactions per fly over the assay duration.
Sip Duration
Duration of each individual feeding event, measured with millisecond precision.
Total Feeding Time
Aggregate time spent interacting with food across the entire experiment.
Feeding Rate
Sips per minute across different time windows for temporal analysis.
Latency to First Sip
Time elapsed before the fly begins feeding, a measure of motivation.
Activity Bouts
Distinct feeding episodes separated by inactivity periods.
Key Publications
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