Trace Metals for Nematode S-Medium

Our lab uses C. elegans as a model organism to study natural variation in response to stress. To conduct our research, we need many different maintenance media for the nematodes. One of those media is S-Medium, which requires a mixture of trace metals. Many labs purchase the metals individually, but US Biological sells a pre-mixed powder of the metals. Purchasing the pre-mixed powder allowed us to order fewer items and to weigh out fewer reagents when making the combined trace metals solution (rather than weighing multiple metals, we just weigh the pre-mixed powder).