Patent ID: 8195404

Claim:
A method for tracking locomotor activity of nematodes or similarly sized small organisms, characterized by comprising the following steps: isolating a plurality of organisms to be recorded in a plurality of individual closed habitats, generally placing one organism per habitat; traversing each isolated habitat with a microbeam with the appropriate characteristics to produce a measurable diffraction with the organism's body without altering the behavior or physiology of the organism, previously filtering each microbeam through microtransparencies preceding the closed habitats; detecting the intensity or the power of the microbeam crossing the closed habitat; determining whether there is fluctuation or attenuation in the measured microbeam intensity or power caused by the diffraction of the organism body crossing the microbeam, according to a detection threshold, and recording the locomotor activity of the organism, located inside the habitat, based on the determination of fluctuations of the determined microbeam parameters.