Nicholas lab: C. elegans research

Working with wormsPostgraduate induction 2013

Yee Lian Chew

C. elegans – the roundworm

• Small – 1 mm long in adults• Anatomy has been fully mapped • Highly stereotypical• Reproduce sexually by mating with

males and also by self-fertilisation (maintained as a haermaphrodite population)

• Short-lived • Transparent

What we do

Matthew

Mallory

Priya

Irene

Anna

DuyguHannah Sashi

Hong

Yee Lian

Aaron

Estelle

Slavica

C. elegans – techniques we use

• Generation of transgenic lines – biolistic transformation and microinjection

• Molecular biology techniques including DNA/RNA work, qPCR, RNAi

• Staining, western blot, mass spec (iTRAQ)• Microscopy – EM, confocal, fluorescence,

dissecting scope• Dissections – germline staining• And of course, lots of fun with worms

Worms are transparent – and yes, they have brains

They have 302 neurons

Co-localisation studies using transgenic C. elegans

pdpy-7::HIS-24::mCherry

pctbp-1::ctbp-1::gfp

Merge

Matthew Hoe

Any questions?

• Contact the boss: hannah.nicholas@sydney.edu.au