We can't find the internet
Attempting to reconnect
Something went wrong!
Hang in there while we get back on track
Multi-scale fractal Fourier Ptychographic microscopy to assess the dose-dependent impact of copper pollution on living diatoms
Summary
Researchers developed a new microscopy technique combining high-resolution imaging and fractal mathematics to detect how copper pollution harms microscopic algae (diatoms), enabling detection of stress in thousands of individual cells simultaneously — a tool that could improve monitoring of heavy metal contamination in waterways.
Accumulation of bioavailable heavy metals in aquatic environment poses a serious threat to marine communities and human health due to possible trophic transfers through the food chain of toxic, non-degradable, exogenous pollutants. Copper (Cu) is one of the most spread heavy metals in water, and can severely affect primary producers at high doses. Here we show a novel imaging test to assay the dose-dependent effects of Cu on live microalgae identifying stress conditions when they are still capable of sustaining a positive growth. The method relies on Fourier Ptychographic Microscopy (FPM), capable to image large field of view in label-free phase-contrast mode attaining submicron lateral resolution. We uniquely combine FPM with a new multi-scale analysis method based on fractal geometry. The system is able to provide ensemble measurements of thousands of diatoms in the liquid sample simultaneously, while ensuring at same time single-cell imaging and analysis for each diatom. Through new image descriptors, we demonstrate that fractal analysis is suitable for handling the complexity and informative power of such multiscale FPM modality. We successfully tested this new approach by measuring how different concentrations of Cu impact on Skeletonema pseudocostatum diatom populations isolated from the Sarno River mouth.
Sign in to start a discussion.
More Papers Like This
A fractal analysis of the holographic diffraction patterns for detecting microplastics among diatoms
Researchers developed a fractal analysis approach applied to holographic diffraction patterns to distinguish microplastics from diatoms in water samples, enabling automated identification of plastic particles in complex biological matrices.
Classifying breast cancer and fibroadenoma tissue biopsies from paraffined stain-free slides by fractal biomarkers in Fourier Ptychographic Microscopy
Not relevant to microplastics — this study develops an automated microscopy method using fractal biomarkers to classify breast cancer and non-cancerous tissue on unstained paraffin slides, a medical imaging advance unrelated to plastic pollution.
Calcium-mediated mitigation of aged nanoplastic-induced stress in microalgae: Insights into photosynthesis, energy metabolism, and antioxidant defense from physiological and multi-omics analyses
Scientists found that tiny plastic particles (nanoplastics) severely damage microalgae, which are important organisms used to clean wastewater before it enters our water supply. However, adding calcium to the water protected the microalgae from this plastic pollution and helped them continue removing harmful substances from wastewater. This research suggests calcium could help maintain clean water treatment systems even as plastic pollution increases in our environment.
Spectroscopic aspects of underwater digital holography of plankton
Researchers demonstrated that underwater digital holography — a technique that captures 3D images of plankton in real time without disturbing them — can monitor the rhythms of plankton populations and detect early signs of ecosystem stress, similar to how spectroscopy reveals the structure of atoms. Shifts in the natural timing patterns of plankton communities can serve as early warning signals of pollution or ecological disruption.
Factors and mechanisms regulating heavy metal phycoremediation in polluted water
Researchers reviewed how microalgae remove heavy metals from polluted water (a process called phycoremediation), identifying factors like algae species, cell surface chemistry, and metal concentration as key influences, and highlighting genetic engineering and nanoparticle modification as promising strategies for scaling the technology to real-world water treatment.