FSML: Improving the Detection, Enumeration and Visualization of Aquatic Microorganisms at the Romberg Tiburon Center, SFSU

San Francisco State University, San Francisco CA

Investigators

Abstract

San Francisco State University (SFSU) has been awarded a grant to significantly increase their capabilities to visualize, characterize and enumerate marine microorganisms in their research and educational efforts at the Romberg Tiburon Center for Environmental Studies (RTC), an off-campus marine research and teaching facility. The grant will increase RTC's analytical capabilities for microbial research by the purchase of two major instruments: 1) a state-of-the-art inverted, epifluorescence microscope (Olympus model IX81) equipped with differential interference contrast (Nomarski) prisms and a high-definition digital imaging and analysis system, and 2) a user-friendly and easy-to-maintain flow cytometer (BD Biosciences Accuri C-6). The requested microscope will replace older, joint-use and private microscopes that are of lesser optical performance, and lack the capability for image capture and interpretation. The flow cytometer will permit timely quantification and characterization of both natural and cultured phytoplankton and bacteria, and microbial assemblages. Due to its relative simplicity and compact design, the instrument will be employed in both laboratory and at-sea research investigations. The broader impacts of the new instrumentation are through contributions that bridge interdisciplinary and institutional boundaries. Collaborative RTC research efforts involving investigators from other universities, and both federal and state agencies will benefit from the improvements and increased functionality provided by these instruments in quantifying and characterizing planktonic systems currently under study, including multi-disciplinary studies in San Francisco Bay, the tropical Atlantic Ocean and the Pacific Northwest. Digital video and imagery from the microscope platform will be available for use by RTC's Outreach Coordinator to share research content with the general public, and for use in local educational efforts. The RTC investigators expected to utilize the two instruments are actively engaged in graduate and undergraduate instruction, and although the microscope and flow cytometer will be used primarily for research purposes it is expected that that both instruments will be utilized in the training of SFSU graduate and undergraduate students. For further information about the center please visit its website at http://rtc.sfsu.edu/.