FlowCam^® - Flow Imaging Microscopy Blog

This January marked the conclusion of the 2020 FlowCam Research Equipment Grant for Graduate Students. The 2020 award recipient was Savannah Mapes, a graduate student in the Reece Lab at the Virginia Institute of Marine Science (VIMS).

Mapes (pictured here) used a FlowCam 8000 to study harmful algal blooms (HABs) in the York River/lower Chesapeake Bay area. 

One of the many reasons we at Fluid Imaging Technologies were excited to join the Yokogawa family of companies in 2020, is their commitment to sustainability and the environment.

The FlowCam was invented in the 1990s to study plankton in ocean water and quickly expanded its applications to drug development and life science. Our commitment to science and the health and safety of our planet and global community is the thread that has held our company together since its founding.

Researchers Quigg et al. have published a study in Marine Pollution Bulletin summarizing their research on phytoplankton in the Gulf of Mexico, and how these communities were affected by the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill. The study sought to bring together new insights into the influence of oil and dispersant on phytoplankton, and to make recommendations to curtail negative impacts from future events.

The FlowCam Aquatic Research Equipment & Travel Grant is back by popular demand for the 2021-22 academic year. This equipment grant provides an opportunity for one graduate student and up to two undergraduate faculty members to receive the use of a FlowCam for the semester of their choice.

Graduate applicants are eligible for a FlowCam 8000 (8100 or 8400) and undergraduate applicants are eligible for a FlowCam 5000.

Pictured here: Drs. Kerry Whittaker (left) and LeAnn Whitney (right) of Maine Maritime Academy (MMA), winners of the 2020 FlowCam Undergraduate Grant.

Researchers Karnan et al. have recently published the results of a study performed from 2013-14 in Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science. Their paper, titled "Implications of micro-plankton and micro-detritus on the food web in the largest monsoonal estuary along the west coast of India" tested the hypothesis that flooding would increase the quantity of available detritus in the Kochi Backwaters (KBW). 

Back by popular demand, the FlowCam Student Equipment Grant program has a new category specifically for undergraduate institutions. The recipients of this inaugural undergraduate grant were Drs. Kerry Whittaker, LeAnn Whitney, and Steven Baer of the Corning School of Ocean Studies at Maine Maritime Academy (MMA), a small college of about 950 students located in Castine, ME.

The FlowCam has been used in marine and freshwater applications since its invention in 1999. Since then, it has been found to be valuable across many industries to evaluate microparticles of importance in medicine, manufacturing, and environmental disciplines. Rarely do we see these applications cross paths - where man-made particles are being analyzed in marine and freshwater environments. One example of this intersection is the study of microplastics, and the problems they cause for our oceans and marine life. 

Have you ever wondered how our technical customer support team performs quality control checks during services and before shipping new instruments? Here's one example of the process our team uses to check for accuracy on the FlowCam Cyano.

Pictured here: Enterprise Pond at YFT headquarters in Scarborough, Maine. The source of the sample used in this demonstration.

Determining whether algal cells are alive or dead is useful for a variety of applications including, but not limited to: wastewater analysis, algaecide testing, mesocosm experiments, and ballast water monitoring. Viability staining is a common approach used in flow cytometry to evaluate the relative abundance of live and dead cells in a sample. The FlowCam 8400, equipped with a laser, digital camera, and 2 channels of fluorescence detection, can be paired with various fluorescent stains to assess the viability of algal cells. Here we will describe how to pair an example of one such stain, fluorescein diacetate (FDA), with the FlowCam 8400 equipped with a 488nm blue laser.

Tessa Rock, a junior at the University of New England (UNE), will be presenting her undergraduate FlowCam research at the New England Estuarine Research Society (NEERS) virtual fall meeting on Wednesday, October 21 as part of a session titled “Particles, Plants and Plastic”.