New Equipment Helping Identify Microplastics in Wahoo Bay

As you may have seen in last month’s research newsletter, the Owls Imaging Lab recently added a new piece of scientific equipment – a Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy imaging system (FTIR). This equipment was purchased with the support of the Batchelor Foundation for a project on ocean microplastics in collaboration with the Ocean First Institute (OFI). FAUHS student, Andrew Vladimir, has been in the lab recently with OFI researcher, Dr. Christopher Malinowski, working on preparing water samples and using the FTIR system to collect data on the specific types of microplastics found in our local waterways. Eventually, these data will provide clues as to the sources of plastic pollution in our local waterways, which is one of the primary steps in addressing this critical problem.