Flexible and disposable paper- and plastic based gel micropads for nematode handling, imaging, and chemical testing

In this paper, we explore the use of microfluidic paper-based analytical devices (？PADs) to study the behavior of Caenorhabditis elegans. We show how these devices can be fabricated on paper and plastic substrates, as well as how to load, visualize, and transfer single and multiple nematodes. We also demonstrate the use of anthelmintic drug, levamisole, to perform chemical testing on C. elegans. Furthermore, we provide a custom program that is able to recognize individual worms on the ？PADs in real-time and extract their locomotion parameters. This combination of ？PADs and the nematode tracking program creates a low-cost, easy-to-fabricate imaging and screening assay that is superior to standard agarose plates or polymeric microfluidic devices for non-microfluidic, nematode laboratories.