Tiffany Wood – Dyneval https://www.dyneval.com Precise measurement of microscopic motion Thu, 02 Jul 2026 14:41:51 +0000 en-GB hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=7.0 https://www.dyneval.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/cropped-Dynevalicon-32x32.jpg Tiffany Wood – Dyneval https://www.dyneval.com 32 32 What’s in your coffee? Live testing at LLL’26 https://www.dyneval.com/whats-in-your-coffee-live-testing-at-lll-26/ Mon, 29 Jun 2026 16:12:44 +0000 https://www.dyneval.com/?p=1011253

What’s in your coffee? Live testing at LLL’26

What do you do when you forget your reference samples for a live demo?

Grab a coffee, of course.

At London Lab Live 2026, coffee wasn’t just fuelling the conversations; it became the experiment. We tested freshly brewed coffee with the Lumero particle size analyser to showcase just how flexible the system really is.

And the results? Much more interesting than you might expect from your morning drink.

Our live demo highlighted the wide concentration range Lumero can handle, from transparent through to fully opaque samples. Even coloured, light-absorbing particles, typically a challenge for many techniques, were measured without issue. Our eye-catching display of orange/brown solutions was made using Nescafé Original Decaffeinated, diluted to a range of concentrations. Naturally, this became the perfect starting point for the first experiment.

Instant coffee. The most concentrated solution (around 10-20% of the normal concentration for drinking) was loaded straight into the Lumero and was found to have a mean particle radius of 669nm and polydispersity index of 0.18.

Fresh coffee.  Now compare that to a skinny flat white (espresso plus skimmed milk) bought from Costa coffee during the event, and things get even more interesting.

This time the equivalent peak has reduced to a mean particle radius of 402nm, , with a significantly larger polydispersity of 0.27. However, a second, much tighter peak appears at a smaller particle size – with a mean particle radius of 82 nm.

This smaller size is consistent with casein micelles, naturally occurring protein structures in milk which are the dominant remaining population after skimming, and are typically in the 25–100 nm radius range, but notoriously difficult to size due to their sensitivity to the environment. Clearly, even without knowledge of the refractive indices, the milk contributes as much to the drink as the coffee – which any coffee drinker can attest to. Suddenly, that simple coffee order becomes a neat demonstration of nanoscale biology in action.

What did Lumero reveal?

Instant coffee

Around 10–20% of the normal concentration for drinking was loaded directly into the Lumero and was found to have a mean particle radius of 669 nm and a polydispersity index of 0.18.

Nescafé Original Decaf (instant coffee)

Skinny flat white

The skinny flat white (espresso with skimmed milk) purchased from Costa Coffee during the event exhibited a mean particle radius of ~402 nm and a polydispersity index of 0.39.

Espresso plus skimmed milk
In Nescafé Original Decaf (instant coffee), a relatively uniform particle-size distribution is observed, indicating lower polydispersity than in fresh milk-based systems. In contrast, milk-based coffee exhibits a more complex, bimodal distribution, with nanoscale casein micelles contributing a distinct secondary population.

So why is this exciting?

Because this quick, improvised demo actually highlights some powerful capabilities:

  1. Nano-scale detection in complex samples
    Lumero can resolve small structures like casein micelles, even in the presence of larger, coloured particles.
  2. Broad concentration range
    From clear to opaque, even coloured, real-world solutions can be measured reliably.
  3. Ease of use
    Measurements are simple enough to be performed by non-experts, using portable equipment; no perfectly prepared samples required. There was no complex protocol development or special preprocessing required. All of these measurements were performed on the spot at what was already a very busy conference.

What we have learnt?

This live testing highlights just how much variability exists in everyday coffee, even from the same source. With rapid, on-site analysis, it’s possible to uncover hidden differences that traditional testing might miss.

Want the full story?

This demo is just a snapshot. Download the full case study to explore the complete results and insights.

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Want tailored insights? Schedule a meeting today.

Picture of Dr Tiffany Wood, MPhys, PhD

Dr Tiffany Wood, MPhys, PhD

Co‑Founder & CEO, Dyneval

Dr. Tiffany Wood is an expert in soft matter with 20+ years of experience in complex fluid dynamics. As Co‑Founder of Dyneval, she specialises in translating advanced physics into real‑time diagnostic technologies for biotech, pharma, and the livestock industry.

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]]> Unrivalled precision correlates % prog motility and conception rates https://www.dyneval.com/unrivalled-precision-correlates-prog-motility-and-conception-rates/ Wed, 01 Mar 2023 17:28:04 +0000 https://www.dyneval.com/?p=1004637

Unrivalled precision correlates % prog motility and conception rates

Dynescan Semen Motility Report

High-fertility bulls have spermatozoa with good flagella structure and function

At the EU AI Vet in the UK in October 2022, Dr Maria Belen Rabaglino from the University College Dublin presented a fascinating talk titled ‘Identification of Biomarkers of Bovine Sperm Function and Embryo Development using an Omics Approach’.  She assessed the genes of both high and low-fertility bulls from the Irish population and discovered that genes associated with good flagella structure and function were prevalent in the high-fertility bulls. During question time, a member of the audience enquired as to whether any difference in motility had been observed using laboratory-based Computer Aided Semen Analysers, and, unfortunately, no correlation had been observed.

Ciara O’Meara from the National Cattle Breeding Centre was keen to try the Dynescan Semen Analyser to explore whether it could reveal new insights.  Measurements were taken using 3 batches of conventional bull semen from each of six bulls spanning the range of low to high fertility in the Irish population.  Conception rates were collected at a national level over approximately 20 independent batches for each bull corresponding to thousands of inseminations across a range of farms across Ireland under a wide range of conditions.

Figure 1: Aerobic progressive motility measured with a Dynescan Semen Analyser plotted against the in-field conception rates for 6 bulls used in national population in Ireland. Sample number < 3 for some batches where the swimming speed indicated the sample was no longer in aerobic conditions.

Measurements with the Dynescan Semen Analyser confirm there is a correlation between the % progressive motility measured at early times when the spermatozoa were swimming in an oxygen-rich (aerobic) environment and the in-field conception rates, as shown in Figure 1, with a gentle gradient of 0.64 (presuming linear dependence, R2=0.99) between the % progressive motility and resulting conception rate and a total range of less than 20% progressive motility between the low and high fertility bulls.  Error bars show the standard deviation between independent batches for the same bull.   In the literature, repeated CASA measurements have been shown to have a standard deviation error of around 10%, and therefore, it is not surprising that CASA measurements could not reveal this correlation.  The Dynescan Semen Analyser provides measurements over a volume of sample that is 10x that of a CASA instrument for 60x longer than a CASA (each video 30s long).  Furthermore, no dilution is required, thus removing errors due to incompatibility between the extender and the diluent. This offers much greater precision when performing measurements of the % progressive motility so that it is mainly batch-to-batch variation which dominates the data.   In the future, we will look to correlate individual batch data with in the field fertility data at a grand scale.

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