7/31 Update

7/31 UpdateHi everyone!
I wanted to start off by saying thank you to all of my backers! The field repackaging is steadily underway and will be completed by early fall. The funds were recently deposited so I’m in the process of ordering the supplies needed. 
I wrapped up my thesis in May, and have been working on consolidating my work into a journal article and a conference paper. A preprint of the journal article can be found at this link: https://www.preprints.org/manuscript/202407.2045/v1 
This article contains images of stained plastics taken with the low-cost microplastic imaging system that I’m adapting into a field portable kit. The article is currently undergoing peer review and may be updated as a result of that process. A conference paper for Oceans Halifax 2024 detailing separate work has also been submitted, and will be presented in late September. 

Millions of tons of plastics enter our ocean each year, eventually breaking down into microplastics (MPs) that propagate throughout ecosystems. MP presence needs to be further characterized to assess the health risks posed by plastic pollution. My research proposes a low-cost detection system that uses the fluorescent dye Nile Red and a Raspberry Pi camera to image particles and classify their nature (plastic vs organic) and polymer type (if plastic).

7/31 Update

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