The development of a portable and low-cost lab-on-a-chip able to quantify and classify in-vivo and real time the seawater phytoplankton by optical properties.
The methodology to select the excitation and detection wavelengths that promotes better identification of phytoplankton as studied, by flow cytometry, optical absorption and dispersion, at several wavelengths. A lab-on-chip for cell sorting and single cell analysis was developed. A proof-of-concept device was fabricated, with LED light excitation and a detection able to quantify the concentration of phytoplankton. A lock-in amplifier electronic circuit was developed and integrated in a portable and low-cost sensor, featuring continuous, autonomous and in-situ underwater measurements. This device has a detection limit of 0.01 µ/L of chlorophyll, in a range above 300 µg/L, with a voltage output that is linear with chlorophyll concentration.
Future work will focus in the integration of previous work and the application for specific phytoplankton species, relevant in toxin monitoring in aquaculture.
University of Minho
www.uminho.pt
CMEMS R&D centre
http://www.mems.dei.uminho.pt/
Luis Gonçalves
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/LM_Goncalves
http://scholar.google.pt/citations?sortby=pubdate&user=4eIVGcAAAAAJ
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8441-3264