Researchers at the University of Georgia Skidaway Institute of Oceanography purchased a FlowCam as part of a $226,557 grant from the National Science Foundation to acquire state-of-the-art imaging equipment to investigate microorganisms from the tiniest viruses to larger zooplankton. The equipment will be housed in UGA Skidaway Institute's new Laboratory for Imaging Microbial Ecology or LIME.
Fluid Imaging Technologies Technical Customer Support Associate Kay Johnson traveled to Georgia in October to provide FlowCam training to the team of researchers.
Researcher Elizabeth Harvey leads the research team that also includes UGA Skidaway Institute scientists Julia Diaz, Marc Frischer, James Nelson and James Sanders.
Liz Harvey comments that plans for FlowCam include supporting ongoing research in the South Atlantic Bight. Work ranging from shrimp fisheries health, to food web structure, to investigating microbial community mortality. Additional plans include measuring Transparent ExoPolymer (TEP) particles and how plankton cells adhere to TEP particles.