Authors
Kwanghun Chung, Matthew Crane, and Hang Lu
Summary
Microscopy, phenotyping, and visual screens are frequently applied to model organisms in combination with genetics. Although widely used, these techniques for multicellular organisms have mostly remained manual and low-throughput. We recently reported a fully automated microsystem for sorting and imaging of C. elegans (Fig. 1a) [ref 1]. This protocol describes how to fabricate microfluidic devices and how to operate the system. The microfluidic device is fabricated using conventional soft-lithography by molding a silicone material (polydimethylsiloxane or PDMS) to the masters created using microfabrication methods. To create the negative masters, photoresists are deposited on a silicon wafer, and patterned to create micron-scale structures using optical masks; a separate master is created for each of the three layers of the final device. The silicone components are aligned and bonded to one another to create the final device. One of the significant advantages of these devices is that they can be used with any microscope, camera and stage of choice. Additionally, the device can be easily scaled for C. elegans of different sizes as well as for other small model organisms. The devices are inexpensive to create, and once the masters have been fabricated will costly only pennies for the materials per device.Further details
The protocol was published on Protocol Exchange on 20 May 2009. To see the entire protocol, click on the source link.Advertisement
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