C. elegans motility in self-healing gels

Nematode behavior is extensively explored and understood by studying them on soft 2D surfaces or inside homogeneous liquid media. However, in their natural habitat, many nematodes navigate a much complex three-dimensional self-healing environment such as soft soil, rotten fruit, and plant stem. Maintaining and exploring nematodes directly in such self- healing environment is critical for understanding their behavior in most natural setting. Hence, to mimic the natural habitat of nematodes, we have designed a transparent, self-healing soil-like material from jammed granular microgel systems. The transparent nature of this platform enables direct visualization of nematodes whereas self-healing nature allows them to move in 3D. Using the canonical example of model C. elegans, we investigate how they navigate through the jammed microgel system. Further, we explore how the stiffness of their microenvironment affects their locomotion. Together, our results will present an approach to maintain and image nematodes in 3D and harvest them from this medium for further processing. Preliminary data will be presented.