Vassar College View Institution's Website 7 articles published in JoVE Neuroscience Examining the Effect of Pesticides on Caenorhabditis elegans Neurons Kathleen M. Raley-Susman1 1Department of Biology, Vassar College Young adult Caenorhabditis elegans nematodes are exposed to different concentrations of commercial pesticides or other toxicants for 2-24 h. Then, different neurons can be visualized using fluorescent-expressing strains. This paper demonstrates how to expose nematodes to pesticides and assess neuron damage. Medicine Employing the Forced Oscillation Technique for the Assessment of Respiratory Mechanics in Adults Wei Qian1,2, Avani Desai3, Jennifer H. Therkorn1, Jacquelyn C. Klein-Adams1, Anays M. Sotolongo1,2, Michael J. Falvo1,2 1Airborne Hazards and Burn Pits Center of Excellence, War Related Illness and Injury Study Center, VA NJ Health Care System, 2Rutgers New Jersey Medical School, Rutgers Biomedical and Health Sciences, 3Vassar College As the use of forced oscillation technique (FOT) is increasingly utilized to characterize respiratory mechanics, there is a need to standardize methods with respect to nascent technical guidelines and various manufacturer's recommendations. A detailed protocol is provided including FOT assessment and interpretation for two cases to facilitate the standardization of methods. Engineering Fourier-Based Diffraction Analysis of Live Caenorhabditis elegans Jenny Magnes1, Harold M. Hastings2, Kathleen M. Raley-Susman3, Clara Alivisatos1, Adam Warner1, Miranda Hulsey-Vincent1 1Physics and Astronomy Department, Vassar College, 2 This manuscript describes how to distinguish different nematodes using far-field diffraction signatures. We compare the locomotion of 139 wild type and 108 "Roller" C. elegans by averaging frequencies associated with the temporal Fraunhofer diffraction signature at a single location using a continuous wave laser. Environment Sediment Core Sectioning and Extraction of Pore Waters under Anoxic Conditions Alison R. Keimowitz1, Yan Zheng2, Ming-Kuo Lee3, Michael Natter3, Jeffrey Keevan3 1Department of Chemistry, Vassar College, 2Division of Geochemistry, Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, 3Department of Geosciences, Auburn University A protocol for sectioning sediment cores and extracting pore waters under anoxic conditions in order to permit analysis of redox sensitive species in both solids and fluids is presented. Engineering Single Wavelength Shadow Imaging of Caenorhabditis elegans Locomotion Including Force Estimates Alicia Jago1, Tewa Kpulun1, Kathleen M. Raley-Susman2, Jenny Magnes1 1Physics and Astronomy Department, Vassar College, 2Biology Department, Vassar College The technique presented here measures the path of freely swimming microscopic species using single wavelength exposure. C. elegans are used to demonstrate shadow imaging as an inexpensive alternative to costly microscopes. This technique can be adapted to accommodate various orientations, environments and species to measure direction, speed, acceleration and forces. Biology Live Imaging of GFP-labeled Proteins in Drosophila Oocytes Nancy Jo Pokrywka1 1Department of Biology, Vassar College A protocol for live imaging of GFP-tagged proteins or autofluorescent structures in individual Drosophila oocytes is described. Bioengineering Quantitative Locomotion Study of Freely Swimming Micro-organisms Using Laser Diffraction Jenny Magnes1, Kathleen Susman2, Rebecca Eells1 1Physics & Astronomy Department, Vassar College, 2Biology Department, Vassar College Microscopic organisms like the free-swimming nematode C. elegans, live and behave in a complex three-dimensional environment. We report on a novel approach that provides analysis of C. elegans using diffraction patterns. This approach consists of tracking the temporal periodicity of diffraction patterns generated by directing laser light through a cuvette.