The Bloomington Drosophila Stock Center at Indiana University

The Bloomington Drosophila Stock Center (BDSC) collects, maintains and distributes genetic stocks of Drosophila melanogaster. The BDSC, which is a direct descendent of the strain collection established by T.H. Morgan's research group early in the last century, has been at Indiana University since 1987. Over 165,000 subcultures were distributed to laboratories around the world in 2008. The collection is supported by grant funds from NSF and NIH (NCRR, NIGMS and NICHHD) and from user fees. The BDSC's current user base includes more than 2,400 research groups and 35 teaching units in 56 countries. The collection consists of more than 25,000 different genetic strains containing over 95,000 defined genetic elements including mutations, chromosomal aberrations and transposon insertions as well as tools for gene misexpression, site-specific recombination and transgenesis. The BDSC website provides information concerning stocks, their experimental uses, ordering and account information, and regulatory issues. Information about genetic components of Bloomington stocks is fully integrated into FlyBase, the primary genetic and genomics database for Drosophila workers.

Special Projects

Kevin Cook's Deletion and Duplication Project is funded by NCRR to improve deletion coverage of the D.  melanogaster genome, and to create a systematic set of segregating X chromosome duplications.

BDSC Scientists

BDSC scientists are an integral part of the Indiana University Drosophila group. IU graduate students and post-docs have ready access to the stock collection and to advice from the center's staff.