On-Demand Isolation and Manipulation of C. elegans by In Vitro Maskless Photopatterning
Caenorhabditis elegans (C. elegans) is a model organism for understanding aging and studying animal behavior. Microfluidic assay techniques have brought widespread advances in C. elegans research; however, traditional microfluidic assays such as those based on soft lithography require time-consuming...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | en_US |
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Public Library of Science
2016
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| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/101691 https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6226-9687 https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7372-3512 |
| _version_ | 1826217539266412544 |
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| author | Gourgou, Eleni Bazopoulou, Daphne Chronis, Nikos Oliver, Ryan Hart, Anastasios John |
| author2 | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Mechanical Engineering |
| author_facet | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Mechanical Engineering Gourgou, Eleni Bazopoulou, Daphne Chronis, Nikos Oliver, Ryan Hart, Anastasios John |
| author_sort | Gourgou, Eleni |
| collection | MIT |
| description | Caenorhabditis elegans (C. elegans) is a model organism for understanding aging and studying animal behavior. Microfluidic assay techniques have brought widespread advances in C. elegans research; however, traditional microfluidic assays such as those based on soft lithography require time-consuming design and fabrication cycles and offer limited flexibility in changing the geometric environment during experimentation. We present a technique for maskless photopatterning of a biocompatible hydrogel on an NGM (Agar) substrate, enabling dynamic manipulation of the C. elegans culture environment in vitro. Maskless photopatterning is performed using a projector-based microscope system largely built from off-the-shelf components. We demonstrate the capabilities of this technique by building micropillar arrays during C. elegans observation, by fabricating free-floating mechanisms that can be actuated by C. elegans motion, by using freehand drawing to isolate individual C. elegans in real time, and by patterning arrays of mazes for isolation and fitness testing of C. elegans populations. In vitro photopatterning enables rapid and flexible design of experiment geometry as well as real-time interaction between the researcher and the assay such as by sequential isolation of individual organisms. Future adoption of image analysis and machine learning techniques could be used to acquire large datasets and automatically adapt the assay geometry. |
| first_indexed | 2024-09-23T17:05:16Z |
| format | Article |
| id | mit-1721.1/101691 |
| institution | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| language | en_US |
| last_indexed | 2024-09-23T17:05:16Z |
| publishDate | 2016 |
| publisher | Public Library of Science |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | mit-1721.1/1016912022-10-03T10:18:47Z On-Demand Isolation and Manipulation of C. elegans by In Vitro Maskless Photopatterning Gourgou, Eleni Bazopoulou, Daphne Chronis, Nikos Oliver, Ryan Hart, Anastasios John Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Mechanical Engineering Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Laboratory for Manufacturing and Productivity Oliver, Ryan Hart, Anastasios John Caenorhabditis elegans (C. elegans) is a model organism for understanding aging and studying animal behavior. Microfluidic assay techniques have brought widespread advances in C. elegans research; however, traditional microfluidic assays such as those based on soft lithography require time-consuming design and fabrication cycles and offer limited flexibility in changing the geometric environment during experimentation. We present a technique for maskless photopatterning of a biocompatible hydrogel on an NGM (Agar) substrate, enabling dynamic manipulation of the C. elegans culture environment in vitro. Maskless photopatterning is performed using a projector-based microscope system largely built from off-the-shelf components. We demonstrate the capabilities of this technique by building micropillar arrays during C. elegans observation, by fabricating free-floating mechanisms that can be actuated by C. elegans motion, by using freehand drawing to isolate individual C. elegans in real time, and by patterning arrays of mazes for isolation and fitness testing of C. elegans populations. In vitro photopatterning enables rapid and flexible design of experiment geometry as well as real-time interaction between the researcher and the assay such as by sequential isolation of individual organisms. Future adoption of image analysis and machine learning techniques could be used to acquire large datasets and automatically adapt the assay geometry. National Institutes of Health (U.S.). Microfluidics in Biomedical Sciences Training Program (5T32-EB005582) United States. Air Force Office of Scientific Research. Young Investigator Program (FA9550-11-1-0089) 2016-03-14T14:38:26Z 2016-03-14T14:38:26Z 2016-01 2015-06 Article http://purl.org/eprint/type/JournalArticle 1932-6203 http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/101691 Oliver, C. Ryan, Eleni Gourgou, Daphne Bazopoulou, Nikos Chronis, and A. John Hart. “On-Demand Isolation and Manipulation of C. Elegans by In Vitro Maskless Photopatterning.” Edited by David T. Eddington. PLoS ONE 11, no. 1 (January 5, 2016): e0145935. https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6226-9687 https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7372-3512 en_US http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0145935 PLOS ONE Creative Commons Attribution http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ application/pdf Public Library of Science Public Library of Science |
| spellingShingle | Gourgou, Eleni Bazopoulou, Daphne Chronis, Nikos Oliver, Ryan Hart, Anastasios John On-Demand Isolation and Manipulation of C. elegans by In Vitro Maskless Photopatterning |
| title | On-Demand Isolation and Manipulation of C. elegans by In Vitro Maskless Photopatterning |
| title_full | On-Demand Isolation and Manipulation of C. elegans by In Vitro Maskless Photopatterning |
| title_fullStr | On-Demand Isolation and Manipulation of C. elegans by In Vitro Maskless Photopatterning |
| title_full_unstemmed | On-Demand Isolation and Manipulation of C. elegans by In Vitro Maskless Photopatterning |
| title_short | On-Demand Isolation and Manipulation of C. elegans by In Vitro Maskless Photopatterning |
| title_sort | on demand isolation and manipulation of c elegans by in vitro maskless photopatterning |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/101691 https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6226-9687 https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7372-3512 |
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