Documentation

Contributing laboratories

Light microscopy datasets deposited directly by the laboratory that produced them, rather than through an imaging facility.

Expression_patternsingle_neuronclonelineagedataset

Introduction

These datasets did not come to VFB through one of the large imaging projects. Each was produced by the laboratory that published it and deposited directly, so VFB carries no site cross-reference for the images. The imaging source below was established by reading each dataset’s cited paper — the methods, author affiliations and acknowledgements — not from VFB metadata.

Entries marked † are inferred from affiliations and funding because the paper does not name an imaging facility outright. Everything else is stated in the paper.

Datasets

DatasetContentsImaging sourceRecords
Lee_Lineage2020central brain neurons by lineage, Lee2020Tzumin Lee lab, Janelia Research Campus462
Cachero2010Adult Brain fru clones (Cachero2010)Jefferis lab, MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Cambridge †119
Kohl2013Third order olfactory neurons involved in pheromone response - backfills (Kohl2013)Jefferis lab, MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Cambridge111
Ito2013Ito lab adult brain lineage clone image setKei Ito lab, Institute of Molecular and Cellular Biosciences, University of Tokyo96
Yu2013Lee lab adult brain lineage clone image setTzumin Lee lab, Janelia Research Campus95
Xie2018Split GAL4 lines for dopaminergic neurons, Xie2018Mark Wu lab, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine78
Matsuo2016AMMC local and projection neurons (Matsuo2016)Kamikouchi lab, Nagoya University, with the Ito lab, University of Tokyo †41
HeadMusclesMcKellar2020Images of proboscis muscles from McKellar et al., 2020Simpson and Dickson labs, Janelia Research Campus18
Nojima2021Split-GAL4 lines from Nojima et al., 2021Goodwin lab, Centre for Neural Circuits and Behaviour, University of Oxford †15
SplitNallasivan2025Split-GAL4 lines from Nallasivan et al 2025Soller lab, University of Birmingham †6
McKellar2020GAL4 lines from McKellar et al., 2020Simpson and Dickson labs, Janelia Research Campus5
Lillvis2018Neurons involved in courtship and song (Lillvis2018)Stern and Dickson labs, Janelia Research Campus2

Records are the individuals VFB holds from each dataset.

How each attribution was established

DatasetPaperBasis
Lee_Lineage2020Lee et al., 2020, eLifeacknowledges Janelia Workstation, FlyLight and Fly Core for technical support
Cachero2010Cachero et al., 2010, Curr. Biol.stacks acquired on the lab’s own Zeiss 710; single LMB affiliation
Kohl2013Kohl et al., 2013, Cellstacks acquired on a Zeiss 710; LMB is the only affiliation on the paper
Ito2013Ito et al., 2013, Curr. Biol.all authors at the University of Tokyo; imaging on the lab’s Zeiss LSM 510
Yu2013Yu et al., 2013, Curr. Biol.acknowledges the Janelia fly core and FlyLight team for support in data production
Xie2018Xie et al., 2018, Cell Rep.stacks acquired in house on a Zeiss LSM510/LSM700; raw files released by the lab
Matsuo2016Matsuo et al., 2016, J. Comp. Neurol.Japanese affiliations and funding only; methods text not openly accessible
HeadMusclesMcKellar2020McKellar et al., 2020, eLifestacks acquired on Janelia Zeiss confocals with Project Technical Resources support
Nojima2021Nojima et al., 2021, Curr. Biol.stacks acquired on a Leica TCS SP5; no external imaging provider acknowledged
SplitNallasivan2025Nallasivan et al., 2026, eLifestacks acquired on a Leica SP8 by the authors; driver lines from VDRC and Janelia
McKellar2020McKellar et al., 2020, eLifesame study as the head muscle set; Janelia confocals and Fly Core
Lillvis2018Ding et al., 2019, Curr. Biol.acknowledges Janelia Project Technical Resources for dissection, histology and confocal imaging

Two recurring traps are worth naming, because both would give the wrong answer. Several of these studies use driver lines from Janelia or VDRC while acquiring their own images — Xie2018 and SplitNallasivan2025 both do — so the origin of a reagent is not the origin of an image. And several use FlyCircuit or FlyLight material as a reference for annotation rather than as source imagery.

Citations are on each dataset’s own page on VFB; cite the original study rather than VFB when you use the images.