Introduction | Parent: Healtshpan

C. elegans is a nematode approximately 1 mm in length. Its maintenance is inexpensive, and it can be cultivated in large quantities in the laboratory. Today, this nematode is the best-known animal in the world. Its genome has been mapped and sequenced. It possesses many tissues and organs that are also present in higher organisms. Due to these characteristics, C. elegans has become one of the most important model organisms in many fields of research, including aging and neurobiology.
Currently, assays with C. elegans are performed manually in almost all laboratories worldwide.

Therefore, the automation of these assays is an attractive proposal. In addition to saving experimental time, automated technology also enables greater objectivity, continuous monitoring, and more precise measurements. Research involving C. elegans is a young discipline, where there is a strong need to develop new methods and technologies to automate these types of assays.

This project builds upon a prototype of the Multiview robot, patented 100% by the UPV and currently at TRL4 stage, which integrates the basic components of the robotic imaging system and traditional image processing software. In addition, robust and accurate image processing models based on convolutional neural networks (CNNs) are available for the automation of segmentation/skeletonization, detection, and inspection of C. elegans.