Flow Cytometry Core
The Flow Cytometry Core (FCC) is a full operational facility located in the Medical Sciences building with seven flow cytometers. We provide flow cytometry services for analysis and sorting of cells, as well as training and expert consultation for project/experiment planning. We maintain a traditional cell sorter the Beckman-Coulter Elite ESP, a high-speed sorter the Beckman Coulter Legacy MoFlo and a Bio-Rad Bio-Plex flow cytometer. All of the others are benchtop flow cytometers that are strictly analyzers. Each instrument is capable of analyzing and sorting (Elite and MoFlo) thousands of cells/particles per second. Five to eleven parameters (relative size, granularity, and up to three/nine colors of emitted fluorescence) can be measured simultaneously and correlated particle by particle. The signals can be instantly collected into histograms for immediate results and/or stored as raw data for experimental analysis later. The data may also be transmitted to a stand-alone FCS PC workstation for analysis.
Various uses of flow cytometry include measurements of autofluorescent proteins, antigen or ligand density, apoptosis, enzyme activity, DNA and RNA content, membrane potential, cytokine receptors and its synthesis, drug uptake and efflux, phagocytosis and viability obtained from cells, isolated nuclei, organelles or microorganisms. Changes in cell cycle, intracellular pH, intracellular calcium, intracellular glutathione and oxidative burst can be also detected with these instruments. Time may be used as a parameter for kinetic studies.
The FCC also maintains an automatic magnetic bead sorter (autoMACS from Miltenyi Biotec) that is often used as a pre-sorter to enrich rare populations of cells before sorting for greater purity on one of our sorting flow cytometers.
We provide Flow Cytometry services for analysis and sorting of cells, as well as training and expert consultation for project/experiment planning. We have 4 analyzers, 2 sorters, a multiplex analyzer, a magnetic bead sorter and a cell counter.