Characterization of a Novel Neuronal Injury Model in Drosophila

Neurons must last an entire lifetime, despite facing frequent risk of injury from sources such as traumatic brain injury. Injury response is often modeled in Drosophila by using a laser to sever neurites and is well-studied. However, we recently observed an alternate type of injury, termed explosion injury, which produces an immediate, massive increase in cytosolic calcium and microtubules. Our goal is to characterize this cellular response, including its relationship to calcium and microtubule upregulation.