Agar Gel Membranes for C. elegans

“Flexible and disposable paper-and plastic-based gel micropads for nematode handling, imaging, and chemical testing”, APL Bioengineering, 1 (1), 016102 (2017).

Authors: Zach Njus, Taejoon Kong, Upender Kalwa, Christopher Legner, Matt Weinstein, Shawn Flanigan, Jennifer Saldanha, and Santosh Pandey
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Summary: Agar membranes and micropads supported on paper or plastic are created for C. elegans roundworm experiments, such as handling, transfer, and drug exposure to these worms.

Worm handling on agar membrane

Two methods of placing C. elegans on suspended gel membranes. (a) Pipetting worm droplets on paper-based agar membranes: A liquid droplet containing worms is pipetted onto the agar membrane and the worms swim in the droplet [(i) and (ii)]. The excess liquid is allowed to be absorbed into the agar and the worms appear crawling on the agar surface (iii). (b) Picking and inserting single worms in plastic-based Pluronic gel: A platinum wire pick is used to select and pick single worms, which is then plunged through the Pluronic gel membrane [(i) and (ii)]. Upon extracting back the pick, the worms remain within the Pluronic gel (iii).

Automated Worm transfer on agar membrane

Paper microfluidics for agar membrane

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