Techniques

We use a range of electrophysiological, behavioral and anatomical techniques.

• Scanning electron-microscopy and light microscopy are necessary to characterize sensilla to record. This is done outside of the lab.
• Electrical activities from insect taste hairs are recorded by capping them with a glass capillary electrode connected to a taste amplifier TastePROBE. This is the main experimental technique we are using here.
• Electrophysiological data are interactively analyzed using custom program dbWave. This program is written in C++ under MFC.
• We use a range of behavioral observation chambers, with the support of video-recording. Simple behavioral observations are invaluable to help understanding how antifeedant molecules are detected and how they impact on the feeding, locomotory and oviposition behavior of our model insects.
• We also designed a specific technique to improve the responses of olfactory receptors to GC effluents, by puffing the output of the column onto the receptors instead of letting it flow continuously.