'Worm Breeder's Gazette’, United States, 1996

Volume 14 No.4 (Oct 1 1996) of the "Worm Breeder's Gazette", an amateur journal for researchers working on the nematode worm Caenorhabditis elegans.

The University of Minnesota in the US published the ‘Worm Breeder’s Gazette’. It was an amateur journal for researchers working on the nematode worm (Caenorhabditis elegans). The nematode worm is a bacteria-eating round worm. It lives in soil and is often found in compost heaps. C. elegans can be either male or a hermaphrodite – meaning it exhibits the sexual features of both a male and a female. It can therefore self-fertilise. It is easy to breed, store and analyse and this makes it an excellent laboratory subject. C. elegans has been studied extensively by scientists since the 1970s, particularly within cell development research. Volume 14 No. 4 of the ‘Worm Breeder’s Gazette’ was published in October 1996. It is the green copy in this group shot.