Science Buddies: "Ask an Expert"

Well i am thinking of doing my science fair on the affect of aluminum on the life span, size, and behavior of exposed C. elegans. But im not sure on how to expose the nematodes to aluminum. Please help.

Hi Sciencefriends,

One thing you could do is have them grow in aluminum plates/foil for their lifespan and compare them to C. elegans that grew in their normal environment.

Hope that helps!

-Sam

Hi ScienceFriends,

You have a very interesting idea! What made you decide on aluminum as your metal?

Sam has given you a good idea. I wanted to point out that, in the lab, C. elegans grow on something called nematode growth medium (NGM), which provides nutrients and other materials to help them grow normally. When conducting your experiment, you will want to provide the worms in both treatments (control and experimental) with NGM. This is difficult to make yourself, but you can usually ask a local university lab for some plates, or order them online at http://www.lab-express.com for only $1 per plate.

Once you have the plates, you can put aluminum pieces onto the experimental plates to see if and how the aluminum affects the worms.

Please let us know if you have more questions.

Best,
Heather

Another possible way to expose the worms is using deoderant. Most deoderants contain aluminum. You might be able to get the gel type deoderant and add it to your media mixture when growing them. Make sure you use different amounts starting from a small amount and then gradually adding more. This will allow you to see if the effect increases as the dose increases. As the previous expert stated, make sure you grow some without any aluminum as a control.