Conventional toxicological assays have limitations: cellular models lack organismal complexity, and vertebrate testing is costly, ethically constrained, and low throughput. Caenorhabditis elegans provides a promising alternative, enabling whole-organism testing at an in vitro-like scale with easier handling and lower costs. To enhance scalability, we developed SydLab™ One, an automated microfluidic platform for culturing, treating, and imaging C. elegans populations throughout their lifecycle. Hourly brightfield and fluorescence imaging, combined with machine learning-based analysis, generate multi-phenotypic data for both parental C. elegans and progeny. Our High-Content Screening (HCS) approach provides early insights into chemical modes of action, while fluorescence imaging with reporter strains expands phenotypic readouts for mechanistic studies.
We validated SydLab™ One by screening 21 benchmark chemicals at five concentrations each, including 16 known toxicants (e.g., methotrexate, thalidomide) and 5 considered safe (e.g., sodium chloride, ascorbic acid). The platform achieved 85.7% accuracy in classifying chemical profiles and a 93.3% positive predictive value for toxic effects. These results demonstrate its potential for scalable, high-accuracy toxicological and ecotoxicological testing, supporting early dose calibration and hazard identification.