[기계] KIMM-SNU 기획과제 세미나, Worm on a Chip

1. 제 목 : Worm on a Chip

2. 연 사 : 박성수 교수 (이화여자대학교)

3. 일 시 : 2009년 9월 17일 (목요일) 오후 4시- 5시

4. 장 소 : 서울대학교 301동 117호 (1층)

5. 초 록 :
The nematode Caenorhabditis elegans, is a model organism used in a wide range of behavioral studies-from sensory transduction to learning and memory. Determining patterns of movement has been important in the characterization of C. elegans behavior, including the studies of chemotaxis, thermotaxis, and mechanosensation. Traditionally these experiments have been done on the smooth surface of agar plates, where the general mechanics of locomotion is well understood. Worms crawl on their sides and move by propagating sinusoidal waves along their body. These waves are produced by a sequence of dorsal-ventral muscular contractions that is opposed by a restoring force provided by the internal hydrostatic pressure of the worm. In the wild, worms live in the soil, and so are challenged with a more heterogeneous environment than the smooth agar plates of the laboratory. In order to investigate how worms move through complex and confined spaces-like the interstitial areas between soil particles-we introduced worms into microfluidic structures with features on the spatial scale of the worm.
When placed in microfluidic chambers containing an array of posts, we discovered that worms are capable of a novel mode of locomotion, which combines the fast gait of swimming with the more efficient movements of crawling. When the length of the worms “resonated” with the periodicity of the post array, the microstructure directed the swimming and increased the speed of C. elegans ten-fold. We found that mutants defective in mechanosensation (mec-4, mec-10) or mutants with abnormal waveforms (unc-29) did not perform this enhanced locomotion and moved much more slowly in the microstructure. These results suggest that worms use mechanosensation in the movement and navigation through heterogeneous environments.

6. 약 력 :
Education
1994, Pusan National University, B.S
1997, Cornell University, M.S.
1999, Cornell University, Ph.D
Work Experience
1999-2000, Postdoc, Tokyo Institute of Technology, Japan
2001-2004, Postdoc, Princeton University

7. 문 의 : 기계항공공학부 전누리 교수 (☏ 02-880-7111)