FlowCam - Flow Imaging Microscopy Blog

After a two-year break, the American Water Works Association's ACE Conference will be hosted in-person in San Antonio, Texas, from June 12th - 15th. The conference brings together water sector professionals from around the country to learn about new technologies and techniques in water quality monitoring, mitigation strategies, and overcoming engineering challenges. 

FlowCam 8000 series instruments provide count and concentration data for a wide variety of fluid samples. Relative counts can be compared reliably among different samples, while concentrations provide particles/mL values based on the actual fluid volume imaged by the instrument. By understanding and considering the various factors that can affect reported concentrations, FlowCam users can ensure they are obtaining accurate concentration data.

Scientists from around the world have been using FlowCam for over 20 years to better understand the ecosystems in our lakes, rivers, and oceans.

As new research is published, we continue to review the literature where FlowCam is utilized for essential and innovative studies in aquatic research. The publications included in our most recent list showcase important FlowCam applications in marine and freshwater research.

When you buy a FlowCam, it's more than just an instrument for your lab. It represents a partnership! You join our FlowCam family and gain access to our team of technical experts dedicated to supporting and improving your FlowCam and VisualSpreadsheet experiences.

This May, nine aquatic science organizations will come together in person to host the largest aquatic science conference in history. The 2022 Joint Aquatic Sciences Meeting "is designed to bring together deep, multidisciplinary subject-matter expertise to collaboratively educate one another and solve the complex environmental problems facing our society and our planet today".

FlowCam user, Jochen Wollschläger, of Germany's University of Oldenburg, recently returned from a research trip aboard the RV METEOR as part of the FjordFlux Cruise in the Beagle Channel, at the southernmost tip of Chile and Argentina. The goal of the expedition was to utilize the fjords of Patagonia to better understand how climate change will affect similar environments in Antarctica. Carried out in the context of the DYNAMO Project, the cruise was a cooperation between Germany, Chile, and Argentina. 

Flow Imaging Microscopy (FIM) has emerged as an essential tool and an increasingly common approach in analytical labs for the quantification and characterization of particles in biotherapeutics. The body of scientific research using FlowCam technology to analyze biotherapeutic samples is continuing to grow and expand. 

These publications not only demonstrate the utility of FlowCam in biotherapeutic development and manufacturing but highlight exciting new applications for FlowCam such as artificial intelligence-based particle analysis as well as cell and gene therapy development.

The new ALH for FlowCam^TM Automated Liquid Handling system is ready for deployment in your lab. Automated liquid handlers (ALHs) use robotics to perform sample processing and analysis with minimal human intervention. Automation reduces the time and effort required from operators to process samples and offers improved repeatability, safer lab operation, and increased productivity.  

ALH for FlowCam provides unattended analysis of up to 384 samples and is compatible with all new and existing  FlowCam 8000 series instruments, FlowCam LO, and FlowCam Cyano.  The ALH offers flexible hardware and a configurable deck platform that allow the instrument to meet each user's specific workflow requirements, including sample preparation such as mixing, dilution and heating/cooling, as well as instrument cleaning. 

Subvisible particles in biotherapeutics represent critical quality attributes because they pose regulatory and potential product safety risks. Therefore, much of the development work behind these therapeutics focuses on creating formulations and manufacturing processes that minimize the particle content in the drug product and reduce the potential for adverse immunogenicity. 

Pictured above are images of IV bags before and after transport via Pneumatic Tube System with Dextrose and Saline.

Despite measures taken during formulation and manufacturing, product quality can still be compromised after manufacturing due to accidental stresses caused by freeze-thawing, exposure to light, and mechanical shock from dropping the drug container. In a recent collaboration between the University of Colorado and Children's Hospital Colorado, researchers investigated particle generation in IV bags containing therapeutic protein formulations in the hospital's pneumatic tube system (PTS). Particle monitoring technologies like FlowCam are critical to ensure biotherapeutics have acceptable particle content not just after manufacturing but up until the therapy is administered to patients.

Zooplankton are an essential part of the aquatic food web. They are the thread that connects the primary producers (phytoplankton) to high trophic organisms, and due to their small size are easily affected by changes in their environment. This makes them a good indicator of water quality and the effects of climate change on the health of water systems.

The Xiangxi Bay of the Three Gorges Reservoir in the Yichang region of China recently served as a place to observe these effects. The bay exhibits high spatial heterogeneity (or an uneven concentration of zooplankton species between different areas of the reservoir). It is this characteristic, likely resulting from variable nutrient levels, that made it a good place to study differences in zooplankton size spectrum and diversity as they relate to environmental factors.