We show sub-micron scale surgery with femtosecond lasers in a tiny living organism. By just cutting few nano-scale nerve connections inside the nematode C. elegans, we can stop the whole worm from moving backwards. This delicate axotomy keeps the surrounding of the severed axons un-damaged so that the axons can regrow back, and the worms recover and can move backwards again. These results demonstrate, for the first time, nerve regeneration in such a tiny organism, in its evolutionarily simplest form. The ability to perform precise sub-micron scale axotomy on such organisms provides tremendous research potential for rapid screening of drugs and discovery of new biomolecules affecting regeneration and development.
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