Reiser Lab Documentation
This documentation covers how to design, run, and analyse experiments using LED panel arena setups for experiments with Drosophila melanogaster within the Reiser Lab at HHMI’s Janelia Research Campus.
How to use this documentation
Each experiment section follows a consistent structure designed to serve different needs:
| Tier | What it contains | Who it’s for |
|---|---|---|
| Overview | Project summary, experiment workflow, and links to all pages in the section | Anyone getting oriented with a project |
| Quickstart | Prerequisites checklist and quick-reference steps for running, making, and analysing protocols | Experienced users who need a quick refresher, or new users who want to get started fast |
| Rig Specs | Arena hardware, software requirements, and calibration constants | Anyone setting up or troubleshooting the physical rig |
| Deep Dives | Detailed protocol descriptions, stimulus generation, analysis pipelines, and data structures | Users who need to understand how and why things work |
| Reference | Code architecture, data formats, experiment logs, and visualisation tools | Users looking up specific technical details |
| Help | Troubleshooting guides organised by experiment stage, common errors, and quality control checks | Anyone who has hit a problem |
New to a project? Start with the Quickstart page for that section — it has a prerequisites checklist and the essential steps to run and analyse an experiment. Then check the Rig Specs page for hardware and software details.
Something not working? Jump straight to the Troubleshooting page at the bottom of each section’s sidebar.
Experiment sections
Freely-walking experiments
Behavioural experiments measuring optomotor responses, motion-induced centring, and locomotion in freely-walking Drosophila using the G3 LED arena. Part of the Freely Walking Course Control Mechanisms screen (2025).
Electrophysiology experiments
Patch electrophysiology experiments characterising receptive field structure and direction selectivity of visual neurons using the G4 LED arena. Includes the Nested RF Protocol and DS Probe Protocol (2024–2025).
Tethered flight experiments
Two-alternative forced choice experiments with tethered flying Drosophila using the G4 LED arena. (Documentation in progress.)
See the Resources page for links to GitHub repositories, G4 software tools, and external LED Display documentation.