FlowCam - Flow Imaging Microscopy Blog

When considering how to characterize your subvisible particles for food and beverage production it's important to be able to see the images of different particle types.

Thursday, November 21st marks Maine's annual statewide event that aims to get middle school students excited about science. This event provides 6th, 7th, and 8th graders exposure to professionals in science-related fields, with the goal of introducing them to a variety of careers available in the sciences.

New research using machine learning technology may help doctors identify pathogens in blood samples in a fraction of the time of current methods, leading to faster deployments of life-saving treatments in patients suffering from sepsis, especially newborns.

Fluid Imaging Technologies and the University of Colorado have entered into an exclusive patent licensing agreement aiming for the automated detection and identification of waterborne and bloodborne bacteria.

Cardiovascular implants, such as drug coated balloons or drug eluting stents used to treat coronary artery disease are subject to rigorous testing for safety. The assessment of particles released from such devices is essential in the approval of these types of coated medical devices because particles released into the blood stream can increase the risk of emboli. In this study the FlowCam was used to count and analyze particles collected during simulated tests, and these results were compared to light obscuration particle counting.
Pictured at right, FlowCam images with different threshold values.

As part of our 20^th anniversary celebration, all 30 Fluid Imaging employees traveled together to hand-deliver two new FlowCam instruments to the lab where the FlowCam was invented, Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences (BLOS) in East Boothbay, Maine.

Every summer since 2015 scientists from around the country have come to Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences in East Boothbay, Maine to be trained in harmful algae taxonomy and identification. This training course project is part of NOAA NCCOS’s Monitoring and Event Response for Harmful Algal Blooms (MERHAB) program and is lead by Dr. Michael Lomas.  Bigelow provides the theoretical and hands-on training to our next generation of HAB scientists so that they have the proper tools to effectively and accurately identify HAB species.

Pictured here: phyto- and zooplankton imaged by the FlowCam off the Maine coast

Yesterday Heather Anne Wright and I were invited to join the Friends of Casco Bay on a mission to track down and capture samples of the algae bloom taking place in Casco Bay.  Mike Doan skippered the Baykeeper, while Will Everitt and Ivy Fignoca accompanied the group this afternoon on a ride out to Chebeague Island.

The positive impacts of therapeutic proteins on the lives of people suffering from cancer, diabetes, multiple sclerosis, Crohn’s disease, ALS, lupus, arthritis and other diseases and conditions have attracted significant investment in drug research and development.

As a result, hundreds of therapeutic protein-based drugs have earned FDA approval, with enormous benefits to human health. With the rapid growth and acceptance of these biologics, more and more information about impacts of product quality on patient outcomes has become available. Based on this growing body of evidence, one of the most important product quality attributes is the concentration and sizes of subvisible particles.

"Lives are on the line when it comes to correct understanding of how therapeutic proteins can form particulate" says Professor John Carpenter, PhD, Professor of  Pharmaceutical Sciences and Co-Director of the Center for Pharmaceutical Biotechnology at the University of Colorado Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences.

Read the entire article in Laboratory News

Click the infographic on the right to view larger

Currently the compendial method for quantifying subvisible particles equal to or greater than 10 µm and 25 µm uses light obscuration (LO), which is internationally harmonized in the U.S., European, and  Japanese Pharmacopoeia. However, numerous reports have indicated that subvisible particles smaller than 10 µm could elicit immune responses.