![\"This](\"http:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/Snyder-lab-instrument-by-Christine-Long.jpg\")
<\/a>This is a close-up shot of the SEAL AutoAnalyzer. In the tubes, the bubbles separate samples. The instrument can run up to four different analyses at once on one sample; it measures how much phosphate, silica, nitrate and ammonia are in the water.<\/p><\/div>A year later, the algal bloom in Maumee Bay was much larger, but did not impact the public water supply.<\/p>\n
\u201cI would like to find some answers as to what happened that day,\u201d Snyder said. \u201cThat\u2019s one of the reasons I\u2019m here at UT. What is triggering the production of toxin? Why is the size of the algal bloom not related to the amount of toxin released? There is still a ton of science that needs to be done.\u201d<\/p>\n
Snyder\u2019s public health mission has shifted to early warning. She is working to find faster ways to alert water treatment plant operators if there is anything in Maumee Bay heading toward the city of Toledo\u2019s intake pipe.<\/p>\n
\u201cInformation that is two-weeks-old doesn\u2019t do them any good,\u201d Snyder said. \u201cBy then the water has already come, gone and is back through the wastewater treatment plant.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBrenda\u2019s extensive experience helps us academics connect with\u00a0the professionals who deal with water treatment on a daily basis,\u201d Bridgeman said. \u201cShe knows most of the water utility managers and chemists along Lake Erie. She speaks their language, knows what challenges they face, and what information they need from us to help meet those challenges.\u201d \u00a0<\/p>\n
Throughout the summer algal bloom season, Snyder is part of Bridgeman\u2019s team that collects water samples aboard UT\u2019s 28-foot research vessel throughout Maumee Bay and the open waters of the western basin. She then runs those samples through what is called the ELISA test, the standard method of measuring the concentration of toxins, like microcystin, associated with cyanobacterial blooms, or harmful algal blooms, in Lake Erie.<\/p>\n
Snyder also is tasked with getting a new lab instrument up and running called the SEAL AutoAnalyzer, which analyzes nutrients found in the water, such as phosphorus, ammonia, silica, nitrate and nitrite.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis tool will help us look at things that feed the algae, which create the microcystin,\u201d Snyder said. \u201cWe know the growth of algae is linked to phosphate and nitrogen in the water. But what other subtle things are triggering the overgrowth of the blue-green algae? That\u2019s what we need to find out.\u201d<\/p>\n
The machine moves small water samples separated by bubbles through thin tubes that look like clear spaghetti. The tubes thread into different chemicals, and the data is graphed on a computer in the lab.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe biggest way having this instrument in our lab will change how we conduct research is to get us the results in a more timely fashion,\u201d Snyder said. \u201cDr. Bridgeman has had to send our samples to another lab to be analyzed for nutrients. We tend to send them in a batch at the end of summer. Instead of taking months to process, we hope to get results within a week of collecting the samples.\u201d <\/p>\n
Snyder and the team of researchers at the UT Lake Erie Center will use the SEAL AutoAnalyzer as another tool in their arsenal to help search for answers and develop new protocols for monitoring source water in Lake Erie that could benefit water treatment plants across the country that are affected by algal blooms.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s darn near everywhere,\u201d Snyder said. \u201cThey\u2019re having problems in Minnesota, Washington, Oregon, California and anywhere in the South.\u201d <\/p>\n
With a wry sense of humor, Snyder said she mixes science and a little bit of art in her water quality quest. It\u2019s one that began at UT.<\/p>\n
\u201cI went back to school at the age of 40,\u201d said Snyder, who graduated in 1997 with a bachelor\u2019s degree in chemistry and biology. \u201cMy son graduated from UT a year later. I joke that I had to wait until he was old enough to tutor me through the calculus classes, which he did.\u201d<\/p>\n
But you\u2019d have to rewind farther to discover the moment a little girl on the monkey bars with her eyes in the sky found a love of science in her heart to last a lifetime.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Brenda Snyder, senior researcher at the Lake Erie Center, is working to get the SEAL AutoAnalyzer running this month so water samples can be analyzed on site and the results available sooner.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":812,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,39,1,3,7],"tags":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40413"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/812"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=40413"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40413\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":40464,"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40413\/revisions\/40464"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40413"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=40413"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=40413"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"Brenda](\"http:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/Snyder-photo-by-Christine-Long.jpg\")
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