Planning: Strategic Planning and Sustainability of the Natural Drosophila Species Stock Center

An award is made to provide support for strategic planning for the Drosophila Species Stock Center (DSSC) at Cornell University. Flies in the genus Drosophila have been important models to the study of genetics, development, neurobiology, ecology, and evolution for over 100 years. Studies on this simple fruit fly have helped society better understand the complex genetic bases of development and stimulated advances in medicine, human health, and our understanding of biological diversity. The DSSC is a national repository for a diverse collection of over 1400 living stocks from approximately 250 species of Drosophila and related genera. The DSSC has maintained these cultures since the 1940s and distributes to researchers working in a variety of biological fields to facilitate research aimed at studying the underlying principles and mechanisms of life. This award will support development of a strategic plan to sustain and facilitate comparative research on Drosophila species, in the face of rising staff and supply costs, in ways that best serves the research community. DSSC staff provides technical expertise in the areas of husbandry, natural history, systematics, evolution, and ecology of Drosophila. Whole genome sequences now exist for all ~250 species currently maintained in living culture, and sequencing on all ~1400 geographic strains is underway. This aspect of the collection further adds to its value and utility as a resource for comparative research into the correlation between phenotypic change, genome evolution, and species divergence. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.