Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution Selected for $500K EPA Research Grant

(Boston, Mass. – Sept. 17, 2008) – The Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution of Woods Hole, Mass. has received a $508,494 grant for the development and use of a new technology to detect and count harmful algal bloom cells in drinking water. Woods Hole is one of five recipients of EPA research grants to improve the detection of known and emerging drinking water contaminants, including potent toxins produced by blue-green algae.

The new technology being evaluated employs a fiber optic array system which can deliver rapid, sensitive methods that accurately identify and count harmful algal species in a given water body. This will be the first device that is able to count multiple species in a water body in the same sample and that can be deployed in small, bench-top instruments for automated detection. More...