ADInstruments and the Department of Neuorobiology and Behavior at Cornell University will co-host a 5 day hands-on workshop for higher education life science instructors seeking to expand their curriculum reach in the neurosciences.
The training event will be based on topics initially explored in the “Crawdad Project,” a three-year program funded to Dr. Ron Hoy by the National Science Foundation to promote the use of invertebrates in undergraduate physiology and neuroscience lab courses.
The goals of this workshop are to provide teachers hands-on experience with invertebrate preparations that demonstrate basic principles of nervous system physiology, and can easily be incorporated into laboratory courses back home. To learn more about the instructors and curriculum, please visit the CrawFly Invertebrate Neurophysiology page.
The next workshop will run from June 8th - 12th, 2026 at Cornell University.
*Please note that scholarships will be unavailable for the CrawFly June 2026 Workshop. Applications will resume for CrawFly June 2027
Information on accommodations will be shared soon...
**Please note ADInstruments is not responsible for travel or accommodations. Please book your travel arrangements only after receiving a course confirmation email from ADInstruments.
Date and Time:
June 8th - 12th, 2026
Location:
Cornell University
Ithaca, NY
Course Agenda
- FRUITFLY: These exercises will introduce educators to modern neurogenetic techniques in the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster.
Topics to be covered:• Drosophila genetics• Optogenetics• ERG recording• Animal behavior• Synaptic transmission • Synaptic plasticity • Fluorescence imaging of neuronal structure and activity
Skills to be covered: • Generating and rearing transgenic Drosophila• Using tissue specific genetic expression techniques• Building inexpensive systems for optogenetic experiments• Quantitative analysis of animal behavior• Recording excitatory junctional potentials at the larval neuromuscular junction• Recording electroretinograms from wild type and mutant animals• Recording action potential in flight muscles through optogenetic stimulation of the Giant Fiber system
- CRAWDAD:
Topics to be covered:• Motor innervation • Neuroanatomy • Sensory systems • Ionic bases of resting and action potentials • Synaptic transmission • Synaptic plasticity • Central pattern generation for rhythmic motor activity
Skills to be covered: • Neuromuscular Intro - Preparations used in Crayfish Motor Nerve, Resting Potential, Axonal conduction velocity; Rhythmic Motor Activity and Synaptic labs • Dissecting Tips - General advice on successful dissection • Recording Tips - Background and troubleshooting for extra- and intracellular computer based data acquisition • Data Analysis - including spike sorting, matching presynaptic action potentials with postsynaptic potentials; measuring AP conduction velocity; calculating time constants for sensory receptor adaptation
DIY Projects: highlighting instructor equipment resources including participant build and use of an inexpensive fluorescence microscope.
**A detailed schedule will be provided one week before the workshop.
“If you’re trying to implement invertebrates into your lab work or into the classroom but you don't necessarily have people around you to help you or guide you, this is it. This is a great place to network, to get ideas, and to gain that knowledge of how to implement them in a classroom setting. It’s perfect.”
-Genevieve Bell