C. elegans: A powerful model organism for studying ageing
In the last decade, aging research has focused on discovering compounds that can halt the development of age-related disorders and slow down the aging process. In this effort, various model organisms are employed to explore the mechanisms that influence longevity and to understand which drug-based interventions can have a therapeutic effect on the molecular mechanisms of longevity.
One such model organism is Caenorhabditis elegans (C. elegans), which has been used extensively over the last half century to address fundamental aspects of longevity research. Indeed, this small nematode can serve as an ideal model for the study of aging due to its short lifespan (~15 days), tractable genetics and the conservation of essential age-related metabolic pathways between C. elegans and humans. Overall, C. elegans offers an excellent ethical alternative to vertebrate animal testing, allowing the monitoring of the dynamics of aging processes in worms (e.g. gene and protein expression, reproductive aging, motility, survival, etc.) in a fast and high-throughput manner.
Nagi Bioscience introduces the first Organism-on-Chip technology
Recently, it has been demonstrated that various aspects of C. elegans research can be improved using microfluidic technologies. In this context, Nagi Bioscience introduces a novel Organism-on-Chip technology replacing the tedious manual protocols of C. elegans aging research with standardized operations within the Nagi Chips integrated in our laboratory device, the SydLab System.