Amelia Langan graduated from Northeastern in 2023 with a degree in biochemistry and went straight into a plus-one master’s program in biotechnology, which she completed in December.
OAKLAND, Calif. — When it blooms, red algae emits toxic byproducts, including aerosols, that kill shellfish and other marine life. People who eat shellfish that have been exposed can be at risk too.
Northeastern University graduate student Amelia Langan’s research helped a Bay Area startup develop a device that could prevent toxic algae from forming dead zones in ocean waters.
During her third and final co-op, Langan worked on a small team researching the use of different light wavelengths to detect algae blooms before they can do harm.
Ocean algae can develop into harmful “red tides” when water loaded with excess nutrients from fertilizer and sunlight combine to lead photosynthesis to go out of control, killing off animals and plants.
“I hadn’t known about the impacts of harmful algal blooms or aerosols,” Langan says. “I have gained an extra appreciation for how interconnected everything is and how I get to contribute in whatever way I can to something that is really existentially overwhelming.”
Langdan graduated from Northeastern University in 2023 with a degree in biochemistry and went straight into a plus-one master’s program in biotechnology, which she completed in December. Working at LineSpect, an industrial camera company based in Mill Valley, California, she co-authored a proof of concept proposal for federal funds to develop the device and researched its potential commercial applications.
Current technology to detect developing algae blooms is cumbersome and expensive, Langan says. LineSpect’s devices are smaller and function as a monitoring system submerged across the ocean, like a group of weather stations, to send images and data to the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration. NOAA then coordinates with the Environmental Protection Agency to eliminate developing blooms, which are common off the coasts of Florida and California.
“When they bloom, they suck up all the oxygen out of the ocean,” she says. “Aerobic organisms like bacteria and bigger organisms like fish who need the dissolved oxygen in the water to survive will die.”
When Langdan started as a behavioral neuroscience and biochemistry major at Northeastern, she was sure she wanted to do clinical research working on human samples. But in spite of her plans to grow out of it, Langdon continued to be squeamish about human blood.
“I’m glad I found out what I didn’t want to do,” she says. “It all fell into place. Lesson learned.”
Langdan had picked up data analysis skills from her first co-op, in a neuroimaging lab at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, and biochemistry research skills during her second co-op, at Octagon in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
The three co-ops were different on purpose, she says. She wanted both dry and wet lab experience, as well as an opportunity to work in environmental science.
That combination is exactly what LineSpect wanted. An important aspect of Langan’s work was to research other applications for the algae detector, including businesses that use algae to make biofuel.
The device, Langan says, could help companies that grow algae at scale as sustainable aviation fuel to identify blooms for harvest.
“The conditions that blooms like to live in are well-documented,” she says. “If you know that the temperature and amount of nitrogen are increasing, that’s an indication that the species might be growing.”
Now that the co-op has ended Langan has started a job at Allonnia, a biotech firm in Boston, working as an analytical chemistry technician. She plans to eventually begin a Ph.D. program.
Looking back, she can see that the connecting thread through her academic and co-op experiences is a desire to be of service.
“Lab work on human samples? No,” she says. “I want to be helpful. I’ve had opportunities to combine passion with a work ethic of grit and gratitude. Now I’m where I should be.”