Sci&Tech History

This is not a Chip ‘n Dale, story, this is a story about worm (C. elagans), a tiny nematode that serves as a model organism in so many fields of research.

In much C. elegans work, researchers introduce mutations or otherwise manipulate the genome to see the impact on the developing organism. Large numbers of the worms (which are about one-twentieth of an inch long) are used, and they often have to be examined through a microscope, one by one, to see the effects. Often the work involves sorting the worms into two groups, based, for instance, on if the manipulation resulted in certain cellular changes.

Some efforts have been made to speed up this process. The latest comes from the Georgia Institute of Technology, where scientists have created what amounts to an automatic worm sorter on a chip.

As described by Kwanghun Chung, Matthew M. Crane and Hang Lu in the journal Nature Methods, the sorter is a microfluidic device, with tiny channels and gates fabricated in an organic polymer. The worms are suspended in liquid, which flows into the chip under constant pressure. A first gate allows only one worm through at a time, and the opening of another gate downstream draws the worm into an observation chamber. There it is briefly immobilized through cooling, and imaged using a digital camera through a high-magnification lens.

Computer software then controls the opening of one of two final gates, sending the worm into one receiving chamber or another based on the software’s interpretation of what the camera saw.

The researchers say their system has a high “throughput,” up to several hundred worms per hour, and can reduce the time needed to complete an experiment from months to just days.

Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/24/science/

24obworm.html?_r=1&ref=science&oref=slogin

Post to: delicious, Digg, ma.gnolia, Stumbleupon