Armbrust Lab

As a Research Engineer in the Armbrust Lab, I get to participate in many different projects, and work with virtually everyone in the lab. Currently, I’m working with Adrian to try and find the ferritin gene in Nitzschia species, which could help explain why pennate diatoms are often the dominant species that bloom during iron fertilization experiments. I’m also helping Adrian create clone libraries from samples taken during these iron fertilization experiments to see how diverse the community is, and also if they contain certain genes of interest. One big part of my job is to run our newest piece of equipment, the flow cytometer (affectionately called Leo). A flow cytometer records the size and fluorescence (chlorophyll, DNA, etc.) of sample particles below 70µm in size, and sorts the particles according to these parameters. It does this by creating a very thin stream of water and injecting sample particles into the middle of this stream. As the individual particles flow through the stream, they are hit with different wavelengths of laser light. This light is interrupted, or scattered, by the particles, and a computer records this scatter displaying the information in real time. Thus, you can see the size and fluorescence of your particles as they are going through the machine! Because the flow cytometer records data in real time, it is possible to select certain particles according to the parameters of your choice and sort them into 96 well plates, test tubes, or microscope slides. This is very useful for trying to make cultures axenic, isolating a certain population of interest to look at under the microscope (or culture), and “seeing” particles that are too small for the microscope to detect. We have also taken the flow cytometer out to sea to collect real time data looking at microscopic phytoplankton and bacteria in the field. I’m working with two grad students, Sara and Colleen, to try and expand the uses of the flow cytometer. Sara is interested in using the flow cytometer to look at how pico-eukaryotic and bacterial populations change throughout the year in Hood Canal. Colleen is interested in the uses of chitin in diatoms, and we’ve been optimizing the machine to detect certain chitin stains. It is our hope that we will continue to find new and exciting uses for the machine to further understand the biology of the small size classes in the ocean.