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Rapid and gentle hydrogel encapsulation of living organisms enables long-term microscopy over multiple hours

Overview of attention for article published in Communications Biology, June 2018
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About this Attention Score

  • In the top 5% of all research outputs scored by Altmetric
  • High Attention Score compared to outputs of the same age (94th percentile)
  • Good Attention Score compared to outputs of the same age and source (78th percentile)

Mentioned by

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78 X users
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1 patent

Citations

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47 Dimensions

Readers on

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140 Mendeley
Title
Rapid and gentle hydrogel encapsulation of living organisms enables long-term microscopy over multiple hours
Published in
Communications Biology, June 2018
DOI 10.1038/s42003-018-0079-6
Pubmed ID
Authors

Kyra Burnett, Eric Edsinger, Dirk R. Albrecht

Abstract

Imaging living organisms at high spatial resolution requires effective and innocuous immobilization. Long-term imaging places further demands on sample mounting with minimal perturbation of the organism. Here we present a simple, inexpensive method for rapid encapsulation of small animals of any developmental stage within a photo-crosslinked polyethylene glycol (PEG) hydrogel, gently restricting movement within their confined spaces. Immobilized animals maintain their original morphology in a hydrated environment compatible with chemical treatment, optical stimulation, and light-sheet microscopy. We demonstrate prolonged three-dimensional imaging of neural responses in the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans, recovery of viable organisms after 24 h, and imaging of larger squid hatchlings. We characterize a range of hydrogel and illumination conditions for immobilization quality, and identify paralytic-free conditions suitable for high-resolution single-cell imaging. Overall, PEG hydrogel encapsulation provides fast, versatile, and gentle mounting of small living organisms, from yeast to zebrafish, for continuous observation over hours.

X Demographics

X Demographics

The data shown below were collected from the profiles of 78 X users who shared this research output. Click here to find out more about how the information was compiled.
Mendeley readers

Mendeley readers

The data shown below were compiled from readership statistics for 140 Mendeley readers of this research output. Click here to see the associated Mendeley record.

Geographical breakdown

Country Count As %
Unknown 140 100%

Demographic breakdown

Readers by professional status Count As %
Student > Ph. D. Student 35 25%
Researcher 26 19%
Student > Doctoral Student 13 9%
Student > Master 9 6%
Student > Bachelor 8 6%
Other 20 14%
Unknown 29 21%
Readers by discipline Count As %
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology 25 18%
Agricultural and Biological Sciences 21 15%
Neuroscience 14 10%
Engineering 10 7%
Chemistry 9 6%
Other 29 21%
Unknown 32 23%
Attention Score in Context

Attention Score in Context

This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 46. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 15 June 2023.
All research outputs
#911,698
of 25,528,120 outputs
Outputs from Communications Biology
#720
of 5,654 outputs
Outputs of similar age
#19,540
of 341,893 outputs
Outputs of similar age from Communications Biology
#13
of 55 outputs
Altmetric has tracked 25,528,120 research outputs across all sources so far. Compared to these this one has done particularly well and is in the 96th percentile: it's in the top 5% of all research outputs ever tracked by Altmetric.
So far Altmetric has tracked 5,654 research outputs from this source. They typically receive a lot more attention than average, with a mean Attention Score of 33.0. This one has done well, scoring higher than 87% of its peers.
Older research outputs will score higher simply because they've had more time to accumulate mentions. To account for age we can compare this Altmetric Attention Score to the 341,893 tracked outputs that were published within six weeks on either side of this one in any source. This one has done particularly well, scoring higher than 94% of its contemporaries.
We're also able to compare this research output to 55 others from the same source and published within six weeks on either side of this one. This one has done well, scoring higher than 78% of its contemporaries.