Flexible and disposable paper- and plastic-based gel micropads for nematode handling, imaging, and chemical testing
Abstract
Today, the area of point-of-care diagnostics is synonymous with paper microfluidics where cheap, disposable, and on-the-spot detection toolkits are being developed for a variety of chemical tests. In this work, we present a novel application of microfluidic paper-based analytical devices (μPADs) to study the behavior of a small model nematode, Caenorhabditis elegans. We describe schemes of μPAD fabrication on paper and plastic substrates where membranes are created in agarose and Pluronic gel. Methods are demonstrated for loading, visualizing, and transferring single and multiple nematodes. Using an anthelmintic drug, levamisole, we show that chemical testing on C. elegans is easily performed because of the open device structure. A custom program is written to automatically recognize individual worms on the μPADs and extract locomotion parameters in real-time. The combination of μPADs and the nematode tracking program provides a relatively low-cost, simple-to-fabricate imaging and screening assay (compared to standard agarose plates or polymeric microfluidic devices) for non-microfluidic, nematode laboratories.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Pub Defense Publication
- Publication Date
- Oct 09, 2017
- Source ID
- 10.1063/1.5005829
Entities
People
- Christopher Legner
- Jenifer Saldanha
- Matthew Weinstein
- Santosh Pandey
- Shawn Flanigan
- Taejoon Kong
- Upender Kalwa
- Zach Njus
Organizations
- Defense Threat Reduction Agency
- Iowa State University
- National Science Foundation