Automated, high-throughput worm surgery!

Automated, high-throughput worm surgery! Why? C. elegans (the worms) are a great model for neural circuitry – by removing (ablating) specific connections in the neural circuits (with the laser) you can study the effect of each component. Previous work was limited by the low population numbers that could be evaluated in the short lifetime of the worms.  This work integrates a microfluidic  system with laser ablation, video microscopy and automation to process hundreds of worms per hour.