Official websites use .gov

A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.

Secure .gov websites use HTTPS

A lock ( 🔒 ) or https:// means you've safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

Need Help

Reinforcing the rigor of Drosophila research by illuminating the relationships among key laboratory stocks, and the genomic and phenotypic variation within them

Award Number: R21OD040600
ORGANIZATION: OFFICE OF THE DIRECTOR, NIH
OPDIV: NIH
AWARD CLASS: DISCRETIONARY
AWARD ACTIVITY TYPE: SCIENTIFIC/HEALTH RESEARCH (INCLUDES SURVEYS)
PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE START DATE: 07/01/2026
PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE END DATE: 06/30/2028

Group Awards By:

View Award Description

Reinforcing the rigor of Drosophila research by illuminating the relationships among key laboratory stocks, and the genomic and phenotypic variation within them - Project Summary / Abstract Drosophila represents a key animal model for basic biology and human disease. A large share of biomedical research in this system focuses on a small number of key laboratory fly stocks (along with more targeted lines derived from these). A major concern is that these critical fly stocks have been kept in the lab for thousands of generations, and are maintained by thousands of different labs, and yet there is currently no practical way for different labs to assess whether their copies of a given nominal stock truly still represent the same genotype. Our own preliminary data extends published findings revealing that different labs’ copies of the same nominal fly stock (such as Canton-S and Oregon-R) often have substantial differences in their genomes and their phenotypic traits, undermining the comparability of experimental results between laboratories. Our project will help address the urgent need for community-wide fly stock validation through two complementary research avenues. In Aim 1, we will develop a novel genomic authentication pipeline for Drosophila stocks, and apply it to a set of 200 widely-studied lab stocks. The pipeline will test for specific evidence of stock contamination, while characterizing these fly stock genomes to inform future research (including our second Aim and subsequent stock validation efforts). In Aim 2, we will investigate genetic and phenotypic variation within 3 of the most extensively studied fly stocks. We will perform assays of 5 biomedically-relevant traits on a total of 100 “sub-lines” of these stocks from different labs. We will also sequence their genomes and apply the above pipeline. Beyond extending the evidence for dramatic variation among sub-lines and identifying specific evidence for stock contamination, we will apply phylogenetic methods to infer the historical genetic relationships among the sampled sub-lines. Collectively, these results will allow us to identify validated, contamination-free lineages of these critical stocks, giving labs access to consistent genetic resources with the desired properties for their experiments. Downstream of the proposed research, these efforts will enable a self-sustaining genomic sequencing and analysis service that will allow any lab to validate and characterize fly stocks they maintain or order from a stock center. This work will also lay groundwork for in-depth genomic studies of studies of these key stocks using long reads, and it will facilitate the inclusion of data from these stocks in future genomic variation resources. Altogether, these impacts will substantially advance the transition of Drosophila research into an era in which the routine authentication of fly stocks will greatly enhance the rigor and reproducibility of biomedical findings from this vital animal model system.


Issue Date FY	Funding FY	Legal Entity Name	Legal Entity Address	Legal Entity City	Legal Entity State	Legal Entity Zip Code	Legal Entity COUNTY	Legal Entity COUNTRY	Assistance Listing	Award Code	Budget Year	Action Date	Action Type	Action Amount

Issue Date FY: 2026 ( Subtotal = $418,641 )
2026	2026	UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN SYSTEM	21 N PARK ST STE 6301	MADISON	WI	53715	DANE	USA	Research Infrastructure Programs	000	1	6/24/2026	NEW	$418,641
														Subtotal = $418,641

Grand Total All Awards = $418,641

Top

All Categories

About

Search

Reports

Data Submission

Award Information

Reinforcing the rigor of Drosophila research by illuminating the relationships among key laboratory stocks, and the genomic and phenotypic variation within them

Award Number: R21OD040600

ORGANIZATION: OFFICE OF THE DIRECTOR, NIH

OPDIV: NIH

AWARD CLASS: DISCRETIONARY

AWARD ACTIVITY TYPE: SCIENTIFIC/HEALTH RESEARCH (INCLUDES SURVEYS)

PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE START DATE: 07/01/2026

PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE END DATE: 06/30/2028

Federal Websites

Department of Health & Human Services

HHS Operating Divisions

HHS Staff Divisions

Download A Document Viewer