Advancing the State of the Art for Affordable Flow Imaging Microscopy with ARTiMiS
Author(s)
Gincley, Benjamin Emerson
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Abstract
Important in both engineered and environmental systems, microalgae are a diverse collection of microorganisms that can be challenging to characterize and monitor with techniques that are high-throughput, high-resolution, highly affordable, and easy to use. Ethnographic research was conducted to assess the current state of the art for microalgae quantification, identification, characterization, and monitoring. Currently available solutions achieve one or a few of these attributes; there remains a great need for an instrument meeting all such requirements.
Finding no existing solution to meet these needs, the Autonomous Real-Time Microbial Scope (ARTiMiS) was developed in response to this gap. Combining the high-throughput operation of flow imaging systems with state-of-the-art machine learning image processing methods and low-cost hardware component design criteria, ARTiMiS aims to offer a novel solution to long-standing challenges associated with characterization of microalgae and similar microscopic organisms. This work details the design methodology behind the ARTiMiS device, validation of its technical capabilities and limits, and benchmarked comparisons against existing gold-standard instruments and methods. ARTiMiS’ utility and versatility enabled a novel long-term study of a full-scale microalgal wastewater treatment system, providing new insights into the interactions between physicochemical parameters (nutrient concentrations, temperature, etc.) and microalgal community structure both in terms of taxonomy and morphology. The accessibility offered by ARTiMiS was then extended to evaluate its ability to predict industrially-relevant phenotypes without fluorescent labeling, demonstrating potential to dramatically reduce costs and barriers to entry for biological product manufacturing, such as the cultivation and harvesting of microalgae for biofuels and high-value bioproducts. The principal objective of this work was to develop a new solution to a significant long-standing problem, and these results suggest ARTiMiS is well-positioned to provide a commercially viable, sustainable technological solution for users across several industries.
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Date
2025-07-28
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Text
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Dissertation