Peltier versus Compressor Cooled Drosophila Chambers

[Shingleton, Alexander]

Dear Fly Community,

I am looking to buy a couple of Drosophila incubators and have been looking at what is available. I have had Percival chambers in in the past, but am considering buying Peltier-cooled chambers instead. They are both a lot cheaper and (apparently) last longer. However, I also hear that they are not so good at maintaining lower temperatures. We keep our flies at 17˚C and 25˚C in a room that is about 20˚C. Does anyone have any insight into how well Peltier-cooled chambers perform under these conditions? I would add that we study body size, so we really don’t want to deal with any fluctuations in temperature.

Very many thanks for your help!

Alexander Shingleton
Associate Professor

Department of Biological Sciences
The University of Illinois at Chicago

4263 SELE, MC 067
840 West Taylor Street
Chicago, IL 60607
ashi...@uic.edu

tel: 312-996-0203
web: shingletonlab.org