Javier Apfeld's Avatar

Javier Apfeld

@javierapfeld

Aging scientist. Worm expert. Community-engaged teacher. Lab at Northeastern University. I watch worms die to learn how to live. Lab: apfeldlab.mystrikingly.com ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0001-9897-5671

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02.09.2023
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Latest posts by Javier Apfeld @javierapfeld

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C. elegans flavin-containing monooxygenase-4 is essential for osmoregulation in hypotonic stress - PubMed Studies in Caenorhabditis elegans have revealed osmoregulatory systems engaged when worms experience hypertonic conditions, but less is known about measures employed when faced with hypotonic stress. Inactivation of fmo-4, which encodes flavin-containing monooxygenase-4, results in dramatic hypoosmo …

I could also be due to hypotonic stress. I think this is more likely, especially if the worms where floated in water. Here is a good reference to worms exploding in distilled water:

07.03.2026 22:09 πŸ‘ 0 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
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Age-associated vulval integrity is an important marker of nematode healthspan - PubMed Improving healthspan, defined as the period where organisms live without frailty and/or disease, is a major goal of biomedical research. While healthspan measures in people are relatively easy to identify, developing robust markers of healthspan in model organisms has proven challenging. Studies usi …

Here is a reference to what could be happening: Age-associated vulval integrity is an important marker of nematode healthspan

07.03.2026 18:46 πŸ‘ 0 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 2 πŸ“Œ 0
250 liters of DNA molecular weight ladder costs $171.93

250 liters of DNA molecular weight ladder costs $171.93

I am absolutely holding Fisher Scientific to what is printed on this order.

06.03.2026 01:49 πŸ‘ 58 πŸ” 5 πŸ’¬ 6 πŸ“Œ 0

Congratulations Ahna!! βœ¨οΈπŸŽ‰

03.03.2026 00:38 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

Congrats Piali!!! πŸŽ‰βœ¨οΈπŸͺ±

01.03.2026 23:03 πŸ‘ 2 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

Thank you!!

27.02.2026 12:59 πŸ‘ 0 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

Thanks Nick!!

27.02.2026 12:55 πŸ‘ 0 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
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Intelligent Imaging Innovations - Microscopist Intelligent Imaging Innovations

3i is hiring a Microscopist - repost & tell a friend!
Ideal candidate has experience in fundamental optical theory & familiarity with lightsheet, spinning disk, multiphoton, TIRF etc. Full-time, exempt position (travel to visit customers) offering a competitive salary & comprehensive benefits.

27.02.2026 01:47 πŸ‘ 14 πŸ” 19 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

Congratulations to Irini Topalidou on her GSA Mentorship Award!

#celegans #womeninSTEM

@irinakitop.bsky.social

25.02.2026 16:05 πŸ‘ 20 πŸ” 4 πŸ’¬ 2 πŸ“Œ 2

Congrats Irini!! ✨️πŸͺ±πŸŽ‰

25.02.2026 19:37 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0

Thanks Navin!

25.02.2026 03:40 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
Redirecting

Here's our paper showing that collagens contribute to the final shape of the reproductive system in C. elegans

doi.org/10.1016/j.ma...

24.02.2026 15:46 πŸ‘ 15 πŸ” 5 πŸ’¬ 2 πŸ“Œ 0

Huge thanks to the MicroPublication Biology @micropub7n.bsky.social team for making it so easy (and genuinely pleasant) to publish the tools we built in the lab. /fin

24.02.2026 15:56 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 1 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
GitHub - ApfeldLab/wormtrails: wormtrails is a python package designed to create images and videos depicting the motion of C. elegans on solid media wormtrails is a python package designed to create images and videos depicting the motion of C. elegans on solid media - ApfeldLab/wormtrails

Dante joined BlueSky just now!! Give him a follow @ashih-cd.bsky.social.

You can download Dante's Wormtrails from our lab's GitHub: github.com/ApfeldLab/wo...

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24.02.2026 15:47 πŸ‘ 3 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0
Dante Ashih’s "Chemotaxis Explosion" won the microscopy award at the Worm Art Show at the 25th International Worm Meeting #worm25

Dante Ashih’s "Chemotaxis Explosion" won the microscopy award at the Worm Art Show at the 25th International Worm Meeting #worm25

Dante Ashih receiving from Dr. Ahna Skop the microscopy award at the Worm Art Show at #Worm25.

Dante Ashih receiving from Dr. Ahna Skop the microscopy award at the Worm Art Show at #Worm25.

These visualizations can be genuinely beautiful.

Dante’s "Chemotaxis Explosion" won the microscopy award at the Worm Art Show at the 25th International Worm Meeting #worm25, and he received the award from Ahna Skop
@ahnaskop.bsky.social! 5/

24.02.2026 15:42 πŸ‘ 3 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0
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Encoding recent movement history with Wormtrails makes spatial differences in C. elegans behavior much easier to see. In this assay, worms not only avoid the hydrogen peroxide gradient on the left, but also move faster near it. 4/

24.02.2026 15:06 πŸ‘ 3 πŸ” 2 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0
Wormtrails visualizations showing the locomotion of the worm in the previous video, over two 60-second windows in which the worm was either roaming or dwelling in place.

Wormtrails visualizations showing the locomotion of the worm in the previous video, over two 60-second windows in which the worm was either roaming or dwelling in place.

The right visualization can suggest the right question:

Are there multiple behavioral states (here, roaming and dwelling)?

Does behavior change with location (for example, at the edge of the bacterial lawn)? 3/

24.02.2026 14:46 πŸ‘ 0 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0
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Wormtrails doesn’t replace C. elegans tracking and quantification. It complements them by focusing on the step we often skip in behavior analysis: exploratory visualization.

Before we reduce everything to numbers, we want to see what’s actually happening. 2/

24.02.2026 14:42 πŸ‘ 4 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0
Pablo Picasso created a figure with light, 1949. Gjon Mili The LIFE Picture Collection.

Pablo Picasso created a figure with light, 1949. Gjon Mili The LIFE Picture Collection.

In Gjon Mili’s photographs of Pablo Picasso drawing with light, you see the figure because the camera integrates time.

Inspired by long-exposure photography, Dante Ashih, an undergraduate in my lab, built the Wormtrails Python package to make it easier to see recent C. elegans behavior.

Thread. 1/

24.02.2026 14:29 πŸ‘ 10 πŸ” 4 πŸ’¬ 3 πŸ“Œ 1
Marcel Duchamp, Nude Descending a Staircase (No. 2) , 1912, oil on canvas, 57 7/8 x 35 1/8 (151.8 x 93.3 cm) (Philadelphia Museum of Art)

Marcel Duchamp, Nude Descending a Staircase (No. 2) , 1912, oil on canvas, 57 7/8 x 35 1/8 (151.8 x 93.3 cm) (Philadelphia Museum of Art)

It is so much fun putting together a BlueSky explainer for our latest paper.

What does Marcel Duchamp’s Nude Descending a Staircase have to do with C. elegans behavior? Stay tuned!

24.02.2026 03:37 πŸ‘ 8 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

Advertise your accent with a gif

20.02.2026 00:07 πŸ‘ 0 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

Today in my Genetics & Molecular Biology class we talked about the French Resistance during World War II, the Terminator movies, and the mechanisms that induce and repress gene expression in bacteria.

19.02.2026 01:38 πŸ‘ 9 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

Justify and hyphenate, this is the way.

17.02.2026 19:19 πŸ‘ 0 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0

Advertise your account with a gif

17.02.2026 01:53 πŸ‘ 2 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

We in the C. elegans community are lucky to have the #wormfeed. Big shout out to @microbeminded.bsky.social for creating such a wonderful gathering place.

And you can pin the wormfeed to your homescreen: bsky.app/profile/did:...

11.02.2026 13:19 πŸ‘ 14 πŸ” 4 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

I just want to shout out @somssich.bsky.social for making the lovely set of #PlantScience feeds––I think he's one of the reasons we have such good engagement in our particular 🌱community here.

11.02.2026 12:13 πŸ‘ 14 πŸ” 2 πŸ’¬ 2 πŸ“Œ 0

Post a banger that's not in English.

Soda Stereo, De MΓΊsica Ligera.

10.02.2026 00:41 πŸ‘ 2 πŸ” 1 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0

Congrats Deepshi, Teresa, and the whole team! πŸŽ‰πŸͺ±βœ¨οΈ

09.02.2026 20:04 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
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Publish houses of brick, not mansions of straw - PubMed Publish houses of brick, not mansions of straw

... this is a reference to William Kaelin's essay: Publish houses of brick, not mansions of straw.

07.02.2026 22:26 πŸ‘ 2 πŸ” 1 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

Without naming your job, tell me something you say over and over and over again at work.

"We're building houses of brick, not mansions of straw."

07.02.2026 22:20 πŸ‘ 3 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0