FlowCam^® - Flow Imaging Microscopy Blog

Superabrasives, such as micronized diamonds and cubic boron nitride (CBN), are used extensively in applications for cutting, grinding, and drilling hard materials. The effectiveness of a particular superabrasive material in a given application is largely determined by both particle size and particle shape. 

Above images: Left, mixed diamond powder, particle property shown is Diameter ESD.
Right, high circularity diamond powder particles, filtered by circularity.

The Confederated Tribes of Coos, Lower Umpqua, and Siuslaw Indians (CTCLUSI) recently received long-awaited funding to purchase a FlowCam Cyano instrument, after first learning about FlowCam at an east coast workshop a few years ago. CTCLUSI makes up three tribes (4 bands) who all reside in close proximity to one another along the Coos River Tributaries in Oregon. According to the CTCLUSI website:

Harmful algal blooms can have a detrimental effect on the environment and on human and animal health. As a result of climate change, water utilities are experiencing these events with increasing frequency. Historically, many water monitoring agencies have not had a plan in place to proactively monitor for cyanobacteria, but rather found themselves reacting to the effects of a bloom after the fact.

Last month, the US EPA released a report that addresses concerns within the agency about the lack of a cohesive, agency-wide plan to monitor freshwater bodies for harmful algal blooms (HABs):

In their recent publication, Quantitative Evaluation of Insoluble Particulate Matters in Therapeutic Protein Injections Using Light Obscuration and Flow Imaging Methods, Shibata et. al. compare the ability of Light Obscuration and Flow Imaging to detect and accurately characterize subvisible particles in injectable drugs.

Austin Water, the City of Austin, Texas' water utility, recently purchased a FlowCam Cyano instrument. Austin Water first learned about the advantages of flow imaging microscopy from employee Misty Klein (pictured here).

When Misty moved to the City of Austin, she understood that image analysis with FlowCam would be essential to Austin Water's strategy to prevent harmful algal blooms. She recommended FlowCam Cyano to her colleagues and received funding to purchase an instrument in 2021.

In August, our FlowCam team attended our first in-person drinking water conference since the onset of the pandemic: the Kentucky/Tennessee Water Professionals Conference in Chattanooga, Tennessee. We met drinking water and wastewater professionals from around the region, ranging from small utilities to state agencies.

Pictured right: Savannah Judge presenting on the water quality monitoring program developed by the City of Wichita Falls in Texas 

While analysis with light obscuration is standard, the FDA has long made clear that size data alone, collected with light obscuration, is not adequate to ensure safe and effective drugs. Orthogonal methods such as flow imaging microscopy are necessary to provide validation.

With the FlowCam LO, the first and only light obscuration (LO) instrument with imaging capabilities is now available. This easy-to-use instrument delivers a powerful, all-in-one solution to meet compliance standards while allowing verification with high-resolution images.

Explore our new technology in the video below.

Aquatic scientists often need to store natural samples for a period of time before processing them using FlowCam. There are multiple preservatives available for this purpose. Glutaraldehyde is a
popular choice of preservative because it will preserve pigment autofluorescence, and therefore allows the use of FlowCam's "Trigger Mode" to automatically distinguish cyanobacteria from other algae, and reduce images of detritus and other non fluorescing particles. Another preservative often used is Lugol's solution, which does not preserve fluorescence, but is less toxic and requires less stringent storage conditions.

Yokogawa Fluid Imaging Technologies was recently named to the list 2021 Best Places to Work in Maine. The statewide survey and awards program are designed to identify, recognize, and honor the best places of employment in Maine, benefiting the state's economy, its workforce, and businesses.

This week FlowCam Applications Scientist, Kay Johnson, visited the Canary Islands to train a new team of FlowCam users at ITC (Instituto Tecnólogico de Canarias). ITC in Pozo Izquierdo is using a FlowCam 8400 with 488nm laser to monitor marine phytoplankton. The team was originally trained by Nicole Gill when they first purchased the FlowCam in 2019, but this year a new group of scientists from Italy and Serbia have joined their team. 

Pictured here (left to right): Kay Johnson, Flavio Guidi, Tonia Principe, Marianna Venuleo, Maca Golezalaz, Zivan Gojkovic