What I want to do or know
I'm wondering can the passive PM kit could be adapted to sample not just dust but also microbes? could ImageJ see bacteria?
if so what adjustments might be needed? if not what massive overhauls would be need?
Background story
I'm wondering if we attached a passive pm monitor to a solar balloon if we could take a sample of the bacteria that are found at attitude, in addition to getting an idea of the total pm load of the trip.
This is a question in relation to Public Lab's ongoing conversation with Tomas Saraceno about solar balloon travel and the potential uses of this means of flight.
Since 2003 Craig Venter has been traveling the ocean on his yacht, taking samples, and privatizing the genome of the bacteria of the sea. It would be amazing to be able to use solar saloons to capture the biome of the air and prevent that information from being privatized.
Additionally, if the passive PM monitor and imaging could be used for bacteria that would be interesting for micro-biome research in homes and assessing the potential side effects of our bacteria-based indoor air quality remediation kits.
This question has come up before, at EcoHack 2012, when @kosamari DIY manufactured cotton candy using a sodacan, power drill, a box of sugar, and a campstove https://publiclab.org/notes/kosamari/11-14-2012/diy-cotton-candy-maker-0 as a prototype for a sterile sugar matrix that could go up on the balloon and collect aerial microbes. At the time, bioinformatics PhD Andrew Hill of CartoDB was working with Jonathan Eisen regarding atmospheric microbial censuses: https://phylogenomics.wordpress.com/
The outstanding question seemed to be, if i recall, how to keep the matrix sterile until it was at altitude. I'd be happy to facilitate any connections that might be helpful, let me know.
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