A touching story

Abstract

A slide taped to a window at the Woods Hole Marine Biology Laboratory was my first introduction to the touch receptor neurons of the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans. Studying these cells as a postdoc with Sydney Brenner gave me a chance to work with John Sulston on a fascinating set of neurons. I would never have guessed then that 43 years later I would still be excited about learning their secrets.

Keywords:

• Caenorhabditis elegans
• Sydney Brenner
• touch receptor neurons
• TRNs
• touch insensitivity
• John Sulston

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Acknowledgements

I want to thank Tulle Hazelrigg, Jonathan Hodgkin, and Bob Horvitz for their comments on the manuscript.