HandKAchip - Hands-free killing assay on a chip

Area of Science:

• Biomedical research
• Infectious disease modeling
• Caenorhabditis elegans biology

Background:

• The nematode worm Caenorhabditis elegans (C. elegans) is a valuable model organism for studying host-pathogen interactions and screening chemical compounds.
• Traditional killing assays involve manual tracking of surviving worms over time, which is labor-intensive, subjective, and can perturb the biological system.
• Worm survival is a single data point in a complex biological process, limiting comprehensive analysis.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and validate a microfluidic-based approach for performing C. elegans killing assays.
• To automate data acquisition and enhance the quantitative resolution of infection studies.
• To provide a more efficient, reproducible, and cost-effective alternative to manual assay methods.

Main Methods:

• A microfluidic device was designed to perform killing assays compatible with standard solid-media protocols.
• Automated image processing and custom workflow were developed for worm-by-worm data acquisition.
• The system was validated for accuracy and reproducibility in tracking worm survival post-infection.

Main Results:

• The microfluidic approach yielded accurate and reproducible survival curves with significantly reduced manual labor.
• The system enabled the acquisition of a multitude of quantitative data beyond simple survival rates.
• Minimal undesired perturbations to the worms and their environment were observed compared to manual methods.

Conclusions:

• Microfluidic technology offers a powerful tool for advancing C. elegans-based infection models.
• This automated, high-resolution approach enhances the efficiency and scope of host-pathogen interaction studies.
• The proposed method is simple, scalable, economical, and provides richer biological insights than conventional assays.