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ioLight and Ramboll fight toxic algae

ioLight is pleased to announce that we are working with Ramboll Group and Lake Associations in Wisconsin and New York State to identify the toxic algae that contaminate lakes, rivers and oceans worldwide.

Many algal blooms are in fact harmless, but a safe diagnosis requires a microscope and an expert. Lake Association members often drive samples long distances to the Lab to have their samples checked so that their lake can be reopened. It can be several days to confirm that the lake is safe.

Ramboll spinout, BloomOptix is developing an Artificial Intelligence app to give an instant result on a mobile phone. The expert app is currently being trained using images from lake associations in Wisconsin and New York State. Samples are collected from the lake and placed on the platform of an ioLight pocket microscope and saved onto a mobile phone for analysis. The app will cut the time to diagnose Harmful Algal Blooms from days to minutes. This will maximise the time we can enjoy our beaches and reduce losses to businesses that rely on tourism.

Andrew Monk, CEO of ioLight says “the ioLight microscope is compact and simple for anyone to use, yet still produces high enough quality images for the BloomOptix app to identify toxic algae”. Bryan Arndt, Managing Consultant at Ramboll Water says “The ioLight microscope is twice the quality and half the price of other microscopes we tested.”

ioLight microscope counting algae on a lakeside in the Yahara River watershed, Wisconsin. Image courtesy of Bob Bertra Clean Lake Alliance.

About Ramboll

Ramboll is a global engineering, architecture and consultancy company founded in Denmark in 1945.

Their 16,000 experts create sustainable solutions across Buildings; Transport; Water; Environment & Health; Architecture, Landscape & Urbanism; Energy and Management Consulting.

Across the world, Ramboll combines local experience with a global knowledge base to create sustainable cities and societies. They combine insights with the power to drive positive change to our clients, in the form of ideas that can be realised and implemented.

They call it: Bright ideas. Sustainable change.

ramboll.com

barndt@ramboll.com

About ioLight

ioLight is a UK startup founded in 2014. 

ioLight has patented the only pocket microscope that can share images of single-cell organisms such as algae and diatoms. ioLight’s solutions allow professional and amateur scientists to measure the effects of climate change such as Harmful Algal Blooms. 

ioLight’s customers have taken their microscopes to The Arctic, Antarctic, The Amazon and even up Mount Everest where conventional microscopes cannot be used.

ioLight’s Magnificent Mobile Microscope goes wherever researchers go. 

Iolight.uk

andrew.monk@iolight.co.uk

ioLight

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