How Mussels can be Monitored to Indicate Aquatic Toxins
Thought LeadersDr. Alper Bozkurt, Professor, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Dr. Jay Levine, Professor, Department of Marine, Earth and Atmospheric SciencesNorth Carolina State University
AZoCleantech speaks with Dr. Alper Bozkurt and Dr. Jay Levine from North Carolina State University. The pair teamed up to develop a system that monitors the movement of mussels. The opening and closing of bivalve mollusks can indicate toxins in aquatic environments.
Can you give our readers a summary of your recent research?
We demonstrated that attaching an array of accelerometers (the step counting sensor in Fitbits and other wearables) to the shells of freshwater mussels provides us with enough resolution to measure their shell opening and gaping behavior. We connect these sensors to wireless networks to monitor a group of mussels simultaneously.