2019 | Germany | Jonas Aaron Grajetzki, Theo Sonnenberg

Automated quantification of the phototaxis of microalgae

Water issue adressed: Too little
Theo Sonnenberg (left) and Jonas Grajetzki at the Jugend forscht finals

We have developed an experimental setup that can automatically and autonomously investigate the phototaxis of unicellular green algae. The fields to be tested are phototaxis in terms of wavelength and intensity of the triggering light. Other parameters to be considered are contrast, time of day, cell concentration and the speed of the source of light.
With our apparatus we investigate the phototaxis of the microalga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii.

This is how I came up with the idea for this project:

We have heard through a lecture at another school of plants that can actively move, we were surprised and fascinated by this fact. So we want to investigat the Phototaxis of mikroalgae. Since this is difficult without tools, we started to develop something that would simplify and automate the experiments.

CONTACT WATERTANK

Ania Andersch

Programme manager ania.andersch@siwi.org +46 8 121 360 59