Lab in a Can

May 23, 2011
New robotic labs are now going mobile to collect ocean samples

It looks a lot like a garbage can-–but it's actually a fully functioning laboratory, thrown overboard, to analyze water samples in the open ocean. One day, a machine like it might tell us whether a beach is safe for swimming or water is clean enough to drink. The so-called "Lab in a Can" is nicknamed ESP.

Paul Edmiston of the
College of Wooster has developed
 Osorb®, a revolutionary new type of
 material that can clean water from oil
spills, detect explosives
 and even treat the
 subsurface of
Superfund sites.
Learn more in this video (down:) (X)
Credit: Sarah Pollock
 ABSMaterials

"The ESP is the Environmental Sample Processor. It is an instrument that collects water, allows you to etract particles, and use molecular probe technology to understand the presence of certain organisms and their activities," explains Chris Scholin, president and chief executive officer of the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI).

With support from the National Science Foundation (NSF), microbiologist Scholin and his team at MBARI created the portable ESP to work on its own so the researchers don't have to travel back to the lab every time they want to analyze samples they collect at sea. Using onboard robotics and half-dollar size reaction chambers--called pucks--ESP can do tests ranging from detecting microbes and toxins to basic DNA analysis.

"We have intake valves. We draw in seawater with a syringe and create a vacuum to basically pull the seawater through a filter that collects a particular size of particles," explains marine biologist Christina Preston, pointing to the different parts that make up ESP. "We have a manipulator arm and a carousel that basically drives
 pucks in different places in order for us to complete our tasks."

"The ESP has enough battery power to last roughly 30 to 45 days," says Jim Birch, director of the Sensors Underwater Research of the Future (SURF) Center at MBARI. "Our goal is to have something that can go out for six months."

New evidence from the University
 of Michigan that biodiversity promotes
 water quality suggests that accelerating
 species losses may compromise future
 water quality. Bradley J. Cardinale of the
 University of Michigan has produced a new
 study that finally verifies that biodiversity
 promotes water quality
 and explains how it
 does so.
 Find out more
 in this news release (down:) (XX)

Researchers say an ESP network might one day crisscross our oceans, monitoring for problems such as oil spills. ESPs might also be used on farms to detect microorganisms like salmonella in the water that's used to hose down crops.

"Wouldn't it be great if we could detect out in the field before it gets into the packaging plant and onto people's table? We want to provide that early warning system," notes Chris Melançon, founder and CEO of Spyglass, the exclusive commercial partner of MBARI for the ESP.

"Science Nation" caught up with Melançon as he was introducing ESP to fish farmer Chris Newman, creator and president of Santa Cruz Aquaponics. Newman raises both watercress and carp in a closed loop water system to reduce the farm's impact on the environment. Water is pumped from fish tanks to watercress beds located above the fish tanks. The water is filtered and cleaned by bacteria in the rocks and watercress roots, and then pumped back into the fish tanks.

"All people who do aquaculture have to test water every day," says Newman. He is testing ESP to see if it accurately detects bacteria.

"Water quality testing takes an immense amount of time," he explains. "If you get it wrong, a whole bunch of fish can die on you. If you have something like ESP that gives you a database that comes up on a computer screen where you can just look at what your water quality is without having to go out and test, it's revolutionary!"

"It's the kind of device that could be in a water distribution center, in reservoirs, or it could be on beaches or in the back of a van driving around for water quality assessment," says Scholin.

The United States has benefitted
from centuries of improvements in
drinking water safety, and most Americans
can trust that clean water comes from their
 taps. Yet, closer inspection is showing that
 on a house-by-house basis, water quality is
 not guaranteed--even in
communities with high marks
 for water safety.
Learn more in this
Discovery (down:) (XXX)

Scholin's work is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA). "The ARRA funding has been instrumental in helping to transfer ESP technology from MBARI to other researchers, not-for-profit organizations and government agencies," says Scholin. "It was the catalyst that made it possible to commercially manufacture a suite of ESPs. That first step has in turn spawned a new industry that aims to merge the fields of environmental monitoring with biomedical diagnostics. Nothing like this has ever been attempted before on any appreciable scale."

Now Scholin's team is working to pair ESP with an autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV), so the instrument can go mobile. You might call it "Lab in a Can" 2.0.

The research in this episode was funded by NSF through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.
Miles O'Brien, Science Nation Correspondent
Ann Kellan, Science Nation Produce



Researchers have found evidence
 that "marine snow"--aggregates of
organic material floating in water bodies
--may act as microscopic, island-like refuges
 for pathogens, or disease-causing organisms.
 This detritus may skew water sampling
 procedures and mathematical models used
 to predict the transmission of waterborne
 diseases to humans.
 Find out more in
 this news release (down:) (XXXX)
Credit: WHOI


  (X)


(XX) http://www.nsf.gov/news/news_summ.jsp?cntn_id=118945
(XXX) http://www.nsf.gov/discoveries/disc_summ.jsp?cntn_id=116497
(XXXX) http://www.nsf.gov/news/news_summ.jsp?cntn_id=116884

The National Science Foundation, 4201 Wilson Boulevard, Arlington, Virginia 22230, USA

Tel: (703) 292-5111 , FIRS: (800) 877-8339
TDD: (800) 281-8749