We report a nematode electrotactic-response valve (NERV) to control the locomotion of Caenorhabditis elegans (C. elegans) in microfluidic devices. This nonmechanical, unidirectional valve is based on creating a confined region of lateral electric field that is switchable and reversible. We observed that C. elegans do not prefer to pass through this region if the field lines are incident to its forward movement. Upon reaching the boundary of the NERV, the incident worms partially penetrate the fi...

Animal Behavior  Zoology  Mathematical Biology  Veterinary Medicine  Cell Biology  Parasitology  Developmental Biology  Evolutionary Studies  Bioengineering  Bioinformatics  Environmental Sciences  Biophysics 

Doi:10.1063/1.3570629

We describe a planar MEMS silicon structure to record ion channel currents in biological cells. The conventional method of performing an electrophysiological experiment, 'patch-clamping', employs a glass micropipette. The micropipette tip is a source of thermal noise because of its inherent, tapered, conical structure, giving rise to a large pipette resistance. This pipette resistance, when coupled with the biological cell capacitance, limits the available bandwidth of single ion channel recordi...

Taxonomy  Microbiology  Biochemistry  Biodiversity  Developmental Biology  Bioengineering  Bioinformatics  Environmental Sciences  Agricultural Science  Computational Biology  Genetics  Cell Biology  Food Science & Technology  Parasitology  Synthetic Biology 

Doi:10.1016/j.sse.2004.05.072

Infections from parasitic nematodes (or roundworms) contribute to a significant disease burden and productivity losses for humans and livestock. The limited number of anthelmintics (or antinematode drugs) available today to treat these infections are rapidly losing their efficacy as multidrug resistance in parasites becomes a global health challenge. We propose an engineering approach to discover an anthelmintic drug combination that is more potent at killing wild-type Caenorhabditis elegans wor...

Neuroscience  Marine Biology  Toxicology  Taxonomy  Microbiology  Ecosystem Science  Biodiversity  Developmental Biology  Bioengineering  Environmental Sciences  Animal Behavior  Agricultural Science  Biotechnology  Computational Biology  Food Science & Technology  Parasitology  Plant Science  Synthetic Biology 

Doi:10.1126/sciadv.aao1254

In this paper, we present a movement-based assay to observe adaptability in Caenorhabditis elegans locomotion behavior. The assay comprises a series of sinusoidal microchannels with a fixed wavelength and modulating (increasing or decreasing) amplitude. The channel width is comparable to the body diameter of the organism. Worms are allowed to enter the channel from the input port and migrate toward the output port. Within channel sections that closely match the worm's natural undulations, the wo...

Animal Behavior  Agricultural Science  Veterinary Medicine  Parasitology  Plant Science  Soil Science  Biodiversity  Bioengineering 

Doi:10.1063/1.3604391

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 r...

Animal Behavior  Computational Biology  Microbiology  Cell Biology  Parasitology  Plant Science  Soil Science  Developmental Biology  Bioengineering  Environmental Sciences  Biophysics 

Doi:10.1063/1.5005829