Repository logo

Infoscience

  • English
  • French
Log In
Logo EPFL, École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne

Infoscience

  • English
  • French
Log In
  1. Home
  2. Academic and Research Output
  3. Conferences, Workshops, Symposiums, and Seminars
  4. Studying the roundworm Caenorhabditis elegans using microfluidic chips
 
conference paper

Studying the roundworm Caenorhabditis elegans using microfluidic chips

Gijs, Martin A. M.  
January 1, 2019
Microfluidics, Biomems, And Medical Microsystems Xvii
Conference on Microfluidics, BioMEMS, and Medical Microsystems XVII

C. elegans is an attractive model organism in biology, as it shows genetic similarity with humans, facilitates microscopic observation due to its transparency, and has a short life cycle. Moreover, many mutants expressing fluorescent proteins in particular cell types exist, and these can be advantageously used for gene/protein expression studies. Nematodes are traditionally cultured on agar plates seeded with E. coli bacteria as food and well plate-based worm cultures using liquid media have enabled high-throughput drug screening. In addition to the well plate format, microfluidics promises precise spatio-temporal handling and dosing of biological reagents for more controlled manipulation and culture of worms and embryos on-chip. I will first discuss reversible worm immobilization protocols, like the use of mechanical clamping or the temperature-sensitive sol-gel transition of a Pluronic solution, for high-resolution on-chip imaging. In particular, we exploited the imaging potential offered by microfluidic chips for performing fluorescent protein aggregation studies to characterize progress of neurodegenerative disease and for mitochondrial morphology studies. We have also implemented worm bio-communication assays on-chip, and have proposed microfluidic chips for automated embryo arraying, phenotyping, and long-term live imaging, as well as for drug studies performed during early embryogenesis. Microfluidic chips thereby allowed studying worm populations at individual animal resolution level and permitted investigating multiple phenotypes at different time points during worm development. Thereby we could observe individualized multi-phenotypic responses to drugs and genetic cues.

  • Details
  • Metrics
Type
conference paper
DOI
10.1117/12.2513194
Web of Science ID

WOS:000485098300028

Author(s)
Gijs, Martin A. M.  
Date Issued

2019-01-01

Publisher

SPIE-INT SOC OPTICAL ENGINEERING

Publisher place

Bellingham

Published in
Microfluidics, Biomems, And Medical Microsystems Xvii
ISBN of the book

978-1-5106-2393-4

Series title/Series vol.

Proceedings of SPIE

Volume

10875

Start page

1087518

Subjects

Engineering, Biomedical

•

Optics

•

Engineering

•

c. elegans

•

microfluidics

•

imaging

•

immobilization

•

protein aggregation

•

high-throughput screening

•

phenotyping

Editorial or Peer reviewed

REVIEWED

Written at

EPFL

EPFL units
LMIS2  
Event nameEvent placeEvent date
Conference on Microfluidics, BioMEMS, and Medical Microsystems XVII

San Francisco, CA

Feb 02-04, 2019

Available on Infoscience
September 26, 2019
Use this identifier to reference this record
https://infoscience.epfl.ch/handle/20.500.14299/161526
Logo EPFL, École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne
  • Contact
  • infoscience@epfl.ch

  • Follow us on Facebook
  • Follow us on Instagram
  • Follow us on LinkedIn
  • Follow us on X
  • Follow us on Youtube
AccessibilityLegal noticePrivacy policyCookie settingsEnd User AgreementGet helpFeedback

Infoscience is a service managed and provided by the Library and IT Services of EPFL. © EPFL, tous droits réservés