Lana created the video ‘Drosophila, Lord of the Flies’, to discuss the history and importance of Drosophila melanogaster as an animal model in science.
Under the supervision of Professor Simon Herrington and Professor Ted Hupp, she is currently completing the OPTIMA combined masters and PhD programme, studying Raman spectroscopy for improvement of the cervical cancer screening process.
Lana has a strong interest in graphic design and animation and throughout her PhD started to consider an art and science crossover as a potential career path. This became of great interest when she began her three month work placement as part of her course.
Through this placement she had a chance to work with Claudia Stocker, science illustrator and founder of Vivid Biology. Together they decided to create a video for the Bristol Science Film Festival, the only one of its kind in the UK.
With extensive animal model images available in Vivid Biology’s existing archive and the broad and popular use of Drosophila in research, it was the perfect topic for the film.