FlowCam^® - Flow Imaging Microscopy Blog

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.

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 

Flow Imaging Microscopy is currently recommended by the USP as an orthogonal analytical method for biopharmaceuticals. It has yet to be integrated into every drug development and testing laboratory however. Integrating new technologies upstream in the formulation development process continues to be an essential path for improving the safety and efficiency of the drug development. Once new methods and technologies are proven and accepted upstream, it's possible to pave the way for new technologies to be implemented downstream and beyond. 

Hundreds of biopharmaceutical and pharmaceutical companies worldwide are now using the FlowCam to improve the quality, safety and stability of their formulations. Since most teams purchasing an analytical instrument for their lab want to read studies conducted by other scientists, we have gathered a collection of the top influential studies using the FlowCam to demonstrate how they are integrating Flow Imaging Microscopy into their research.

Earlier this month, Harry Nelson and I transported a FlowCam by ferry to the Hurricane Island Center for Science & Leadership. This beautiful island is located off the rocky coast of Maine, east of Rockland and southwest of Acadia National Park.

The Center for Science & Leadership, founded in 2009, offers a variety of experiential learning opportunities for students. Hurricane Island itself is public and students will often see visitors moor their boats and explore the the island for a day of adventuring.

Applications Scientist, Kay Johnson has spent this week in Cincinnati training new FlowCam users at the Greater Cincinnati Water Works (GCWW) on their new FlowCam Cyano. GCWW is located on the Ohio River across the water from Kentucky. They will be using the FlowCam Cyano to count and categorize cyanobacteria and other phytoplankton populations both before and after treatment.

This week the Bioprocessing Summit is happening in Boston and virtually.

The popular 9th Annual Rapid Methods to Assess Quality & Stability of Biologics conference track will bring together experts in analytical and formulation development to discuss rapid and practical ways to accelerate prediction and screening for protein instabilities in early- and late-stage development. The conference features case studies, unpublished work on new methods and tools employed in real-time and accelerated stability studies for proteins, cell and gene therapy products, high-throughput analytics, developability assessment, high-throughput analytics, multi-attribute methods, post-translational modifications, and stability in vaccines.

Application to a therapeutic protein pumping study performed at Skagg School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences

Sub-visible particle characterization is a critical method for assessing drug substance and drug product quality and stability. In this study, we evaluated the capabilities of the new FlowCam Nano (which utilizes patented oil immersion flow microscopy), in conjunction with a peristaltic pumping study that focused on protein particle formation generated during filling pump operations.

Earlier this month, Savannah Judge, one of our Aquatic Markets Experts, co-presented with Kerry Whittaker and LeAnn Whitney of The Corning School of Ocean Studies at Maine Maritime Academy in Castine, ME. The topic of the presentation was "Use of high-throughput fluid imaging technology in the field-based undergraduate ocean classroom with FlowCam".