Tag Archives: Malouf Scholarship

Starting out as Malouf Scholar, ODFW Marine Team, and deep-sea research on the Okeanos

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Every day I get to go out on the Ocean I feel like the luckiest person in the world!

I was in Portland OR, attending the Ecological Society of America (ESA) meeting, when I first heard the good news that I had gotten the Malouf Marine Studies Scholarship! I could not believe it, and was so exited. I ran all over the Oregon Convention Center, trying to find my adviser to tell him the good news! I finally had the funding to start doing field work and begin my PhD research.

During September I had my first chance to go out with Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife (ODFW) Marine Reserves Team, and learn how their Hook and Line survey methods works. A method I plan to use as part of my research.  I learned so much those few days I was out there with ODFW’s David Wagman (also known as Wolfe, bottom left). He is a really good mentor and gave me great suggestions on how to improve my proposed research.

Photos: Alex Avila, Participating in ODFW’s Hook and Line Surveys

Photo: Alex Avila. Wolfe measuring fish

Unfortunately that was the last outing of the season. I need to finish writing all my permit application in the winter in order to be ready to hit the ground running next year.

NOAA scholarships have given me the opportunities I would have never even dream possible. Just like Oregon Sea Grant is part of NOAA Sea Grant College program , so is another scholarship that has greatly impacted my life, the Dr. Nancy Foster Scholarship, from NOAA’s Office of National Marine Sanctuaries. I’m currently serving aboard the NOAA ship Okeanos in the Gulf of Mexico, as part of a program collaboration opportunity that was given to me as a Dr. Nancy Foster scholar. I’m here to serve as in data logging and samples processing. At the end of the expedition I will be writing a report that will help prioritize data for researchers, ensuring that the data can be efficiently used.

Photo courtesy of NOAA Office of Exploration and Research (OER)

Photo courtesy of NOAA Office of Exploration and Research (OER)

The  NOAA Ship Okeanos Explorer expedition is running from November 29 through December 21 2017, and is investigating deep-sea habitats and the associated marine communities in the Gulf of Mexico basin. Through the Okeanos expedition,  other researchers and I, are exploring and discovering vulnerable marine habitats and investigating areas relevant to resource managers, submerged cultural heritage sites,  and marine protected areas. Okeanos is equipped with telepresence, meaning people on shore – whether scientists or the general public – and anyone can watch the remotely operated vehicle (ROVs) dives live in real time (click here to stream video).  In fact, next week, we will be conducting a Facebook Live event from the NOAA Ship Okeanos Explorer in the Gulf of Mexico this Tuesday, December 12th 2017 at 11:00 am PST  (2:00 pm EST). Science Co-lead Dr. Diva Amon, Expedition Coordinator Brian Kennedy, and I will be there to answer everyone questions! Check out Diva’s, NOAA’s OER and my twitter profiles for daily updates from the Okeanos!

Left to right: Diva Amon, Brian Kennedy, Alex Avila. Photo courtesy of NOAA Office of Exploration and Research (OER)

 

 

Vessels, Pumps and VIs – Oh My!

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Since my last post I have completely re-designed my chemostat system. Take a look at my last blog post to see a picture of the previous system (aka Cv1.0). Although good in theory (autoclavable culture vessel, large culture volume, inexpensive to implement), many problems came out in the test culture phase.

To begin with, although the culture vessel itself was indeed autoclavable, the bulkhead fittings that connected tubing to the vessel were not. The silicone sealant used to close off gaps was also not autoclavable.

Additionally, the peristaltic pumps for this system quickly became very unreliable and refused to stay synchronized. Since the principle of a chemostat system is dependent on constant, synchronized influx and efflux of media, lack of synchronization in the input/output pumps leads to serious problems such as excessive dilution of the culture or (far worse) draining the culture vessel dry.

The culture vessel for Cv1.0 was also far too large. Topping out at 4 liters, it required an enormous amount of media to keep the culture at steady state.

Because of these problems I have decided to adopt a new system design (Cv2.0). Instead of the previous two pump chemostat system (one input pump and one output pump), the new system is an overflow chemostat. This simply means that the culture vessel has an open port in the side of the flask that drains excess media when the media level rises to the overflow level. This has the great benefit of requiring only one media pump (the input pump) since the overflow port drains media at the same rate that it is being pumped into the system. This new culture vessel is also much smaller (2L media capacity), so media demands should be less. Upgrading to a better quality peristaltic pump seems to have solved the flow inconsistency problems experienced in the previous system.

I have also begun the process of writing a LabVIEW VI (virtual instrument) to control the gas manifold (see picture) in response to culture pH. Slowly but surely, progress is being made.

Gas manifold with solenoid valves and non-compressible gas lines

In between working over my chemostat I have been writing my thesis proposal. It looks like I’ll be defending my proposal sometime in March or April, so I’ve also been working on some preliminary data to relate Alexandrium cellular health to pH. Hopefully I’ll be including this in my next post.

Happy 2013! :)