Every sip counts

flyPAD

Name: flyPAD
Brand: Easy Behavior
Availability: InStock

Automated Feeding Behavior Monitor

The flyPAD (fly Proboscis and Activity Detector) uses capacitance-based sensing to automatically detect and quantify feeding behavior in Drosophila melanogaster with single-sip resolution. Monitor up to 96 individual flies per system, and run several systems in parallel to measure several hundreds of flies simultaneously.

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flyPAD — Automated Feeding Behavior Monitor

Key Features

High-Throughput Screening

Monitor hundreds of flies simultaneously by running several 96-channel systems in parallel. Run large-scale genetic or pharmacological screens with ease.

Single-Sip Resolution

Detect individual proboscis-food interactions at 100 Hz. Quantify sip number, duration, and inter-sip intervals with millisecond precision.

Food Preference Assays

Two-choice feeding arenas let you measure food preference simultaneously with intake. No dye needed — purely electronic detection.

Feeding Microstructure

Analyze feeding motor programs: burst duration, inter-burst intervals, activity bouts. Reveal pharmacological or genetic effects invisible to bulk assays.

Automated & Reproducible

Eliminate observer bias. Automated detection ensures consistent, reproducible results across experiments and labs.

Publication-Ready Output

Generate figures and statistics directly from acquisition data. Validated in 70+ published studies.

See sample output ↓

Technical Specifications

Detection Method	State-of-the-art capacitance-based proximity sensor. fF resolution.
Channels	96 channels per system (48 flies with 2-choice configuration or 96 flies with a single food choice option)
Scalability	Using several systems in parallel allows to monitor up to several hundreds of individual animals simultaneously
Sampling Rate	100 Hz (100 samples/second)
Resolution	Single sip detection
Software	Open-source and customizable interface based on Bonsai for data acquisition. Easy-to-use and intuitive MATLAB and Python software for data analysis. Possibilities for software customization.
Output	Publication-ready data and figures and full control over data analysis
Food Types	Solid and liquid

Note on Food Types

We recommend using solid (1–2% agarose-based) food for our assays, especially in Diptera. This allows the system to capture feeding at the highest possible resolution due to the different mode of intake on solid foods. Liquid food can also be used, but it will produce a different behavior — pumping instead of sipping — and is more difficult to quantify. However, we are successfully using liquids for mosquitoes and other insects.

Sample Data Analysis

You put in flies and food — the software does the rest. Below is real output generated automatically from a sample dataset: publication-grade figures and more than 20 quantitative metrics of feeding behavior, complete with statistical analysis.

Every figure below was generated automatically by the software from a single experiment — 32 flies, two food substrates, 1-hour recording. No manual plotting.

Activity bouts, feeding bursts, sip counts — with statistical comparisons and cumulative timecourses.

Download Full Software Download Sample Data

How It Works

The flyPAD detects feeding using a high-sensitivity capacitance-to-digital converter that measures tiny changes in capacitance between two electrodes — one beneath the fly and one embedded in the food. When a fly extends its proboscis to interact with food, the proximity of the proboscis alters the electric field between the electrodes, producing a measurable capacitance shift at femtofarad (fF) resolution.

This principle is similar to how your smartphone's touchscreen works, but the flyPAD uses a dedicated capacitance-to-digital converter optimized for ultra-low-power, high-sensitivity proximity detection — capable of resolving the tiny proboscis of a single Drosophila at 100 samples per second.

Data acquisition runs through the open-source Bonsai framework, enabling real-time visualization and flexible experimental protocols.

Fly feeding on the flyPAD

flyPAD vs Traditional Methods

Feature	flyPAD	CAFE Assay	Dye-Based
Temporal Resolution	10ms (single sip)	Hours (endpoint)	Hours (endpoint)
Automation	Fully automated	Manual reads	Manual processing
Feeding Microstructure	Yes	No	No
Observer Bias	None	Moderate	High

Automation

You put in flies and food — the system does the rest: publication-grade figures and more than 20 quantitative metrics of feeding behavior, complete with statistical analysis.

See the sample data analysis example

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