about us

mission

We are CytoBuoy b.v., a dutch company manufacturing particle analysis instruments and software for researchers in aquatic science and other disciplines. We are proud that we can put our experience, vision and skills to work on making tools that help scientists pursue important goals such as understanding ecological processes in the environment. The personal contacts with our customers are a source of joy and invaluable for the continuous innovation of our products and services.


  Lowering a CytoSub in Marseille harbour water

history

1986-1992
Design of a flow cytometer for phytoplankton (the Optical Plankton Analyser) at the Radiobiological Institute of the Netherlands Organization for Applied Scientific Research (TNO) and funded by The Netherlands Foundation for Technical Sciences (STW). The instruments were validated by the Dept. of Aquatic Ecology, University of Amsterdam and the National Institute for Coastal and Marine Management, Rijkswaterstaat (RIKZ)

- introduction of extremely large flow cell (1 mm) for a wide range of particles
- first (hard wired) digital pulse processing for an extreme dynamic range

1992-1995
This technology was further explored in the 1992 MAST II project EurOPA, funded by the Marine Science and Technology program of the European Commission. The partners in this project pioneered many aspects such as
- video imaging-in-flow (Max-Planck Institute für Biochemie)
- digital pulse shapes (RIKZ)
- azimuthally resolved forward light scatter (Dept. of Physics and Applied Physics, University of Strathclyde)
- fluid switch sorter with direct sorting on filters (Dubelaar Res. Instr. eng.)
- neural network analysis (School of biology, Univ. of Wales, College of Cardiff)
- multivariate statistical methods (Plymouth Marine Laboratory)

1996 - 2000
The CytoBuoy project was also funded by the MAST III Marine Science and Technology program of the European Commission. We pioneered the downsizing of the core (Eur)OPA technology for autonomous and in situ operation. Partners: Datawell b.v., Oceanor s.a., Dubelaar Res. Instr. eng., Pyxilla, Kantakun.

- introduction of storing of fully digitized pulse shapes
- invention of recirculating sheath fluid
- introduction of two stage injector for moving platforms
- introduction of holographic grating for fluorescence color separation
- invention of non-gaussian laser intensity profile for high sample flow rates
- first radio operated flow cytometer in floating buoy

2001
Founding of CytoBuoy b.v.

- first CytoSense benchtop instruments delivered
- first submersible flow cytometer (down to 200 meter)
- introduction of CytoClus: cluster analysis with fourier analysis of pulse shapes

2004
- invention of the curvature parameter
- introduction of submersible battery pack for CytoSub
- CytoSub control and data download through bluetooth

2005
- modular redesign and downsizing of the CytoSense to 1 cubic foot
- introduction of picoplankton modules
- CytoBuoy in Oceanor SeaWatch mini hull with solar panels

2006
- full USB control of CytoSense and realtime download of particle scans
- CytoSub control and data download through WiFi antenna

2007
- USB comunication through 280 meter of marine cable
- automatic sample speed adjustment to particle concentration
- water depth triggered sampling by CytoSub