Researchers in Professor Gordon Taylor’s lab at the School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences (SoMAS) are probing ocean contaminants with the help of two high-powered instruments. Students and research associates are using a laser Raman spectrophotometer to help them explore the chemical composition of microplastics that pose a global threat to marine environments, and an atomic force microscope that can image molecules and the tiniest of organisms.
“To the best of my knowledge, we are the only environmental or marine science lab in the United States to have such capable instruments, aside from Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Massachusetts.” said Taylor.
