MIT engineers have developed a way to rapidly perform surgery on single nerve cells in the worm C. elegans. The white lines represent axons ? long extensions of nerve cells that carry messages to other cells.
Image: Craig Millman and Yanik Lab
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. Scientists have long sought the ability to regenerate nerve cells, or neurons, which could offer a new way to treat spinal-cord damage as well as neurological diseases such as Alzheimer's or Parkinson's. Many chemicals can regenerate neurons grown in Petri dishes in the lab, but it's difficult and time-consuming to identify those chemicals that work in live animals, which is critical for developing drugs for humans. Engineers at MIT have now used a new microchip technology to rapidly test potential drugs on tiny worms called C. elegans, which are often used in studies of the nervous system. Using the new technology, associate professor Mehmet Fatih Yanik and his colleagues rapidly performed laser surgery, delivered drugs and imaged the resulting neuron regrowth in thousands of live animals. 'Our technology helps researchers rapidly identify promising chemicals that can then be tested in mammals and perhaps even in humans,' says Yanik. Using this technique, the researchers have already identified one promising class of neuronal regenerators.
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