Scalable nano-electrode electrophysiology in intact small organisms

dc.contributor.advisorRobinson, Jacob Ten_US
dc.creatorGonzales, Daniel Luisen_US
dc.date.accessioned2017-08-01T15:29:13Zen_US
dc.date.available2017-12-01T06:01:05Zen_US
dc.date.created2016-12en_US
dc.date.issued2016-10-31en_US
dc.date.submittedDecember 2016en_US
dc.date.updated2017-08-01T15:29:13Zen_US
dc.description.abstractElectrical measurements from individual cells and synapses in large populations of animals would help reveal fundamental properties of the nervous system and neurological diseases (Bier 2005; Jones, Buckingham, and Sattelle 2005; Kaletta and Hengartner 2006; Lieschke and Currie 2007). Small model organisms like worms and larvae are strong candidates for such large-scale experiments (Yanik, Rohde, and Pardo-Martin 2011); however, current methods to measure electrical activity via patch-clamping methods in these tiny animals requires low-throughput and invasive dissections (Broadie and Bate 1993; Drapeau et al. 1999; Goodman et al. 1998). To overcome these limitations we present nano-SPEARs: nanoscale electrodes that can record electrophysiological activity in small animals without dissections. We designed our prototype device to measure muscle activity in the 1-mm long roundworm Caenorhabditis elegans and show the first extracellular recordings of body-wall muscle activity inside an intact worm. We also reconfigured the geometry of the chip to record from the freshwater cnidarian Hydra littoralis, showing that this platform can be expanded to other animal species. In addition to versatility, our measurement system is scalable, providing a path to high-throughput measurements and offering new screening capabilities for studying human diseases with small model animals. As an example, we establish the first electrophysiological phenotypes for C. elegans models for Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) and Parkinson’s disease (PD), and show that the PD phenotype can be partially rescued with the drug clioquinol (Tardiff et al. 2012). Together these results demonstrate that nano-SPEARs provide the core technology for scalable electrophysiology microchips that will enable high-throughput, in vivo studies of fundamental neurobiology and neurological diseases. (abstract adapted from Gonzales et al. 2016)en_US
dc.embargo.terms2017-12-01en_US
dc.format.mimetypeapplication/pdfen_US
dc.identifier.citationGonzales, Daniel Luis. "Scalable nano-electrode electrophysiology in intact small organisms." (2016) Master’s Thesis, Rice University. <a href="https://hdl.handle.net/1911/95971">https://hdl.handle.net/1911/95971</a>.en_US
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/1911/95971en_US
dc.language.isoengen_US
dc.rightsCopyright is held by the author, unless otherwise indicated. Permission to reuse, publish, or reproduce the work beyond the bounds of fair use or other exemptions to copyright law must be obtained from the copyright holder.en_US
dc.subjectNeurotechnologyen_US
dc.subjectelectrodesen_US
dc.subjectC. elegansen_US
dc.subjectnanofabricationen_US
dc.subjectneuroengineeringen_US
dc.subjectelectrophysiologyen_US
dc.titleScalable nano-electrode electrophysiology in intact small organismsen_US
dc.typeThesisen_US
dc.type.materialTexten_US
thesis.degree.departmentApplied Physicsen_US
thesis.degree.disciplineNatural Sciencesen_US
thesis.degree.grantorRice Universityen_US
thesis.degree.levelMastersen_US
thesis.degree.majorApplied Physics/Electrical Engen_US
thesis.degree.nameMaster of Scienceen_US
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