Open AccessMulti‐Modal Locomotion of Caenorhabditis elegans by Magnetic Reconfiguration of 3D Microtopography
Author(s) -
Park Jeong Eun,
Yoon Sunhee,
Jeon Jisoo,
Kim Chae Ryean,
Jhang Saebohm,
Jeon TaeJoon,
Lee Seung Goo,
Kim Sun Min,
Wie Jeong Jae
Publication year - 2022
Publication title -
advanced science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 5.388
H-Index - 100
ISSN - 2198-3844
DOI - 10.1002/advs.202203396
Subject(s) - caenorhabditis elegans , control reconfiguration , creatures , microscale chemistry , physics , computer science , biological system , biology , paleontology , biochemistry , mathematics education , mathematics , gene , natural (archaeology) , embedded system
Miniaturized untethered soft robots are recently exploited to imitate multi‐modal curvilinear locomotion of living creatures that perceive change of surrounding environments. Herein, the use of Caenorhabditis elegans ( C. elegans ) is proposed as a microscale model capable of curvilinear locomotion with mechanosensing, controlled by magnetically reconfigured 3D microtopography. Static entropic microbarriers prevent C. elegans from randomly swimming with the omega turns and provide linear translational locomotion with velocity of ≈0.14 BL s −1 . This velocity varies from ≈0.09 (for circumventing movement) to ≈0.46 (for climbing) BL s −1 , depending on magnetic bending and twisting actuation coupled with assembly of microbarriers. Furthermore, different types of neuronal mutants prevent C. elegans from implementing certain locomotion modes, indicating the potential for investigating the correlation between neurons and mechanosensing functions. This strategy promotes a platform for the contactless manipulation of miniaturized biobots and initiates interdisciplinary research for investigating sensory neurons and human diseases.