EPISODE 18: Pumped Up – How Worms Mimic Heart Rhythms to Test Nanotech

EPISODE 18: Pumped Up – How Worms Mimic Heart Rhythms to Test Nanotech

In this episode, we ask: can a heartless worm model arrhythmia? Turns out — yes. Using Caenorhabditis elegans as a stand-in for cardiac muscle, researchers tested the effects of polypyrrole nanoparticles (Ppy NPs) on pharyngeal pumping rhythms, revealing fascinating insights into how bioengineered materials might impact human-like tissues.


We explore:


  • How the worm pharynx mimics cardiac function

  • Why mutants with sluggish pumps were rescued by Ppy NPs

  • Long-lasting effects, even after the nanoparticles were expelled

  • Calcium imaging showing altered Ca²⁺ dynamics in real time

  • The power of C. elegans for safe-by-design nanomedicine screening



📖 Based on the research article:

“Arrhythmic Effects Evaluated on Caenorhabditis elegans: The Case of Polypyrrole Nanoparticles”

Sumithra Yasaswini Srinivasan, Pilar Alvarez Illera, Dmytro Kukhtar, et al.

Published in ACS Nano (2023).

🔗 https://doi.org/10.1021/acsnano.3c05245



🎧 Subscribe to the WoRM Podcast for more science where whole organisms meet high-tech innovation!


This podcast is generated with artificial intelligence and curated by Veeren. If you’d like your publication featured on the show, please get in touch.


📩 More info:

🔗 ⁠⁠www.veerenchauhan.com⁠⁠

📧 veeren.chauhan@nottingham.ac.uk

Denne episoden er hentet fra en åpen RSS-feed og er ikke publisert av Podme. Den kan derfor inneholde annonser.

Episoder(53)

EPISODE 53: Worms on Pause

EPISODE 53: Worms on Pause

Welcome to the next episode of the WOrM Podcast 🪱⏸️Today, we are talking about worms that appear to stop living—without dying.Researchers have identified a new, reversible state of suspended animatio...

5 Aug 26min

EPISODE 52: Worms in Space: Microbiomes in a Capsule

EPISODE 52: Worms in Space: Microbiomes in a Capsule

Welcome to the next episode of the WOrM Podcast 🪱🚀Today, we are looking at NemaCapsules: a new microfluidic system designed to study how host genetics and the gut microbiome influence C. elegans hea...

29 Jul 21min

EPISODE 51: The Worm Behind the Wild

EPISODE 51: The Worm Behind the Wild

Welcome to the next episode of the WOrM Podcast 🪱Today we’re looking at a review with a bold idea.Can a tiny nematode help us protect fish, amphibians, reptiles and insects from an increasingly chall...

22 Jul 16min

EPISODE 50: Fed by Mum, Built by Ribosomes

EPISODE 50: Fed by Mum, Built by Ribosomes

Welcome to the next episode of the WOrM Podcast 🪱Today we’re talking about inheritance.Not DNA.Not small RNAs.Not epigenetics.But ribosomes.⸻🧬 The central ideaWhen mother worms experience dietary re...

15 Jul 20min

EPISODE 49: Glowing up the Worm Proteome

EPISODE 49: Glowing up the Worm Proteome

Welcome to the next episode of the WOrM Podcast 🪱Today we’re looking at a paper that doesn’t answer a biological question.Instead, it builds the tools to answer thousands of biological questions in t...

8 Jul 21min

EPISODE 48: Murder Mode: How a Worm Evolved the Urge to Kill

EPISODE 48: Murder Mode: How a Worm Evolved the Urge to Kill

Welcome to the next episode of the WOrM Podcast 🪱Today we're talking about a worm with teeth.And a nervous system that has been rewired — by evolution — to become aggressive.⸻🧬 The central ideaPrist...

6 Mai 14min

EPISODE 47: When Bacteria Fight Back: Bioplastic Kills the Worm

EPISODE 47: When Bacteria Fight Back: Bioplastic Kills the Worm

Welcome to the next episode of the WOrM Podcast 🪱Today we’re talking about something unexpected.A bioplastic — something we usually think of as sustainable, useful, even beneficial —can kill a worm.⸻...

29 Apr 21min

EPISODE 46: Turning in Time: Neural Sequences in the Worm Brain

EPISODE 46: Turning in Time: Neural Sequences in the Worm Brain

Welcome to the next episode of the WOrM Podcast 🪱Today we’re looking at something deceptively simple: a turn.But not just that a worm turns —how the brain decides to do it.⸻🧬 The central ideaTurning...

22 Apr 19min

Populært innen Vitenskap

fastlegen
tingenes-tilstand
abels-tarn
liberal-halvtime
romkapsel
jss
rekommandert
vett-og-vitenskap-med-gaute-einevoll
sinnsyn
dekodet-2
villmarksliv
fjellsportpodden
rss-rekommandert
tomprat-med-gunnar-tjomlid
rss-inn-til-kjernen-med-sunniva-rose
rss-nysgjerrige-norge
rss-overskuddsliv
diagnose
abid-nadia-skyld-og-skam
forskningno