Kyushu University 4 articles published in JoVE Biology The Large-Scale Cultivation of Nematodes to Study Their Collective Behaviors Ryuki Imamura*1, Yurina Nakane*1, Hu Jiajing1, Hiroshi Ito2, Takuma Sugi1 1Program of Biomedical Science, Graduate School of Integrated Sciences for Life, Hiroshima University, 2Faculty of Design, Kyushu University Here, a system is reported for studying the collective behaviors of nematodes by culturing them in bulk using dog food agar medium. This system allows researchers to propagate large numbers of dauer worms and can be applied to Caenorhabditis elegans and other related species. Environment Xylem Water Distribution in Woody Plants Visualized with a Cryo-scanning Electron Microscope Kenichi Yazaki1, Mayumi Y. Ogasa2, Katsushi Kuroda3, Yasuhiro Utsumi4, Peter Kitin5, Yuzou Sano6 1Department of Plant Ecology, Forestry and Forest Products Research Institute (FFPRI), 2Kansai Research Center, Forestry and Forest Products Research Institute (FFPRI), 3Department of Wood Properties and Processing, Forestry and Forest Products Research Institute (FFPRI), 4Faculty of Agriculture, Kyushu University, 5Department of Bacteriology, University of Wisconsin, 6Research Faculty of Agriculture, Hokkaido University Observing the water distribution within the xylem provides significant information regarding water flow dynamics in woody plants. In this study, we demonstrate the practical approach to observe xylem water distribution in situ by using a cryostat and cryo-SEM, which eliminates artifactual changes in the water status during sample preparation. Chemistry Novel Techniques for Observing Structural Dynamics of Photoresponsive Liquid Crystals Masaki Hada1, Shohei Saito2, Ryuma Sato3, Kiyoshi Miyata4, Yasuhiko Hayashi1, Yasuteru Shigeta3, Ken Onda4 1Graduate School of Natural Science and Technology, Okayama University, 2Graduate School of Science, Kyoto University, 3Center for Computational Sciences, University of Tsukuba, 4Graduate School of Science, Kyushu University Here, we present the protocols of differential-detection analyses of time-resolved infrared vibrational spectroscopy and electron diffraction which enable observations of the deformations of local structures around photoexcited molecules in a columnar liquid crystal, giving an atomic perspective on the relationship between the structure and the dynamics of this photoactive material. Bioengineering Perfusable Vascular Network with a Tissue Model in a Microfluidic Device Yuji Nashimoto1, Yukako Teraoka1, Ramin Banan Sadeghian1, Akiko Nakamasu2, Yuichiro Arima3, Sanshiro Hanada3, Hidetoshi Kotera1, Koichi Nishiyama3, Takashi Miura2, Ryuji Yokokawa1 1Department of Micro Engineering, Kyoto University, 2Graduate School of Medical Sciences, Kyushu University, 3International Research Center for Medical Sciences (IRCMS), Kumamoto University The protocol describes how to engineer a perfusable vascular network in a spheroid. The spheroid's surrounding microenvironment is devised to induce angiogenesis and connect the spheroid to the microchannels in a microfluidic device. The method allows the perfusion of the spheroid, which is a long-awaited technique in three-dimensional cultures.