Module 5A: Using Optogenetics With C. elegans for Inquiry-Based Student Experiments

In this video, Heather Rhodes and her undergraduate students will demonstrate how to set up, conduct, and interpret results from an inquiry-based laboratory exercise using optogenetics in C. elegans. Specifically, Rhodes will:

• Explain how to assemble simple, low-cost equipment to run an inquiry-based optogenetics experiment with undergraduate students.
• Demonstrate optogenetics stimulation to manipulate motor behavior in C. elegans with her students.

After watching this video, you should be able to better understand how to integrate optogenetic approaches into laboratory exercises for undergraduate and high school students.

Visit the Community forum for all eight modules to share your insights and best practices, ask questions, and engage with other training series’ participants.

Speaker

Heather J. Rhodes, PhD

Heather J. Rhodes is an associate professor in the department of biology and director of the neuroscience program at Denison University. Her research focuses on the neural underpinnings of social and reproductive communication in the African clawed frog. She teaches undergraduate courses on multicellular life, comparative physiology, neurophysiology, and neuroscience. Rhodes earned her PhD in neurobiology from Duke University and completed postdoctoral training at Boston University and the Marine Biological Laboratories as a Grass Fellow.