The aspect of sharing knowledge and experince of using Foldscope was done with our NE Partner from DN Government College Itanagar, Arunachal Pradesh on 27 ^th December 2018 in Chilika, Odisha. A group of six student guided by their Professor and PI of Foldscope Project visited Wetland Research Training Centre, Balugaon Odisha. For on board demonstration of sampling the phytoplankton, zooplankton and use of foldscope, NE partners and our foldscope team of WRTC Lab took a joint sampling trip to Kalijai Island located inside the Chilika Lagoon. On the way zooplankton, phytoplankton and grab sampling was shown to the students, giving them a preview of how sample collection is done in the Asia’s largest brackish water lagoon for analysis of plankton and benthic communities. The red and green algae attached to the Floating Jetty of the island were collected and observing under foldscope which provided very high-resolution images of microscopic organisms like phytoplankton, zooplanktons, protozoa, paramecium, algae and a Vorticella. More details on samples can be seen in following linked post.

HIGH-RESOLUTION FOLDSCOPY OF A BIOLOGICAL MICROMACHINE: VORTICELLA

After the field visit to Chilika, NE partners were shown documentary on Chilika and were given a broader view on Chilika. Benthic expert and fish experts gave them an insight on fishery and benthic communities of Chilika Lagoon. Students were explained and shown the squid eggs collected from the outer channel from Chilika. Students also visited the instrument lab where they were explained about the state of the art technology such as Gas Chromatography, HPLC, AAS etc used in water quality monitoring of Chilika Lagoon.  The exchange visit came to an end with distribution of wetland educational kits to the students in the hope that the entire tour was fascinating and sensitized the NE partners regarding wetlands, biodiversity, and use of foldscopy to analyze it.