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WormBot, an open-source robotics platform for survival and behavior analysis in C. elegans

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Abstract

Caenorhabditis elegans is a popular organism for aging research owing to its highly conserved molecular pathways, short lifespan, small size, and extensive genetic and reverse genetic resources. Here we describe the WormBot, an open-source robotic image capture platform capable of conducting 144 parallel C. elegans survival and behavioral phenotyping experiments. The WormBot uses standard 12-well tissue culture plates suitable for solid agar media and is built from commercially available robotics hardware. The WormBot is controlled by a web-based interface allowing control and monitoring of experiments from any internet connected device. The standard WormBot hardware features the ability to take both time-lapse bright field images and real-time video micrographs, allowing investigators to measure lifespan, as well as heathspan metrics as worms age. The open-source nature of the hardware and software will allow for users to extend the platform and implement new software and hardware features. This extensibility, coupled with the low cost and simplicity of the system, allows the automation of C. elegans survival analysis even in small laboratory settings with modest budgets.

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Acknowledgments

We would like to thank Nick Terzopoulos for media preparation; Shane Rea, Andres Vidal-Gadea, George Sutphin, Christine Queitsch, and Makoto Horikawa for beta testing the WormBot in their laboratories; Matt Crane and other members of the Kaeberlein lab for discussions and testing of the WormBot hardware and hardware; Ron Musgrave and the UW Physics Instrument Shop for advice and assistance when constructing the original WormBot prototype; and the developers of the various open-source software and hardware platforms on which the WormBot relies.

Funding

This work was supported by the University of Washington Nathan Shock Center of Excellence in the Basic Biology of Aging, NIH grant P30AG013280 to MK. JNP and BWB were supported by NIH grant T32AG000057.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Pathology, University of Washington, 1959 NE Pacific St, Seattle, WA, 98195, USA

    Jason N. Pitt, Nolan L. Strait, Elena M. Vayndorf, Benjamin W. Blue, Christina H. Tran, Brendon E. M. Davis, Karen Huang, Brock J. Johnson, Keong Mu Lim, Sophie Liu, Arash Nikjoo, Anuj Vaid, Judy Z. Wu & Matt Kaeberlein

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  1. Jason N. Pitt
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  2. Nolan L. Strait
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Correspondence to Matt Kaeberlein.

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Conflict of interest

JNP, BWB, and MK are shareholders of GeroTech, Inc., a company seeking to provide a commercial version of the WormBot.

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Pitt, J.N., Strait, N.L., Vayndorf, E.M. et al. WormBot, an open-source robotics platform for survival and behavior analysis in C. elegans. GeroScience 41, 961–973 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11357-019-00124-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11357-019-00124-9

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