Introduction

Aging is the strongest risk factor for most neurodegenerative disorders, such as Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, Huntington’s disease, and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. As the aging of the population increases, these neurodegenerative disorders are becoming major social problems in many countries. From a societal point of view, the importance of accelerating the detection of therapeutic compounds for neurodegenerative diseases is enormous.

The small nematode C. elegans offers us a transparent window into biology. They allow researchers to track biological events in vivo at the microscale level. The ease with which C. elegans can be cultured, manipulated and observed has taken research into new areas. For example, C. elegans is used to study neurodegenerative diseases and aging.

Research laboratories are developing their C. elegans experiments manually. Therefore, the processes involved in handling and monitoring C. elegans individually are time consuming. That is why automation is an attractive proposition. In addition to saving the researcher time, automated technology also promises objectivity, constant monitoring and, most notably, accurate new measurements.