Flow Cytometry Facility  Rm.C3603

• Cellular Identification and Characterization by Flow Cytometry
• High-Speed Cell Sorting

As a clinically certified facility, the Cell Science/Flow Cytometry Core Facility, located in room C3603, performs clinical analyses of patient samples on a regular basis. In addition, the six flow cytometers, including two 3-color FACScan instruments, two 4-color FACSCalibur instruments, a 6-color FACSCanto instrument, and a 6-color MoFlo High Performance cell sorter, are available for use by investigators at the College of Medicine on an hourly rate basis. The services of this core are indispensable for investigators in the field of immunology. In addition, many other cell biology projects use the flow cytometers.

The goal of this core is to provide sophisticated fluorescence-activated cell sorting and cell-fluorescence analytical services at reasonable hourly rates. To achieve these goals, the facility is operated to provide access to both clinical and basic science investigators.

Flow Cytometry Basics

Flow cytometry is a means of identifying and measuring certain physical and chemical characteristics of cells or particles as they travel in suspension one by one past a sensing point. The flow cytometer is able to "look" at thousands of cells or particles per second and perform and record many simultaneous measurements for each cell or particle.

The flow cytometer consists of a light source, collection optics, electronics and a computer to translate signals to data. The light source of choice is usually a laser which emits coherent light at a specified wavelength. Scattered and emitted fluorescent light is collected by two lenses (one set in front of the light source and one set at right angles) and by a series of optics, beam splitters and filters, specific bands of fluorescence can be measured.

We can measure physical characteristics such as cell size, shape and internal complexity and, of course, any cell component or function that can be detected by a marker attached to a fluorescent compound can be examined. A number of these cell markers and measurements can be made for each cell and combined to give an informative summary of the characterization, identification and function of large populations of cells. So the applications of flow cytometry are numerous, and this has led to the widespread use of these instruments in the biological and medical fields.

Some of the more common research applications include: immunology, cell cycle and cell growth, cell function and activation, cell differentiation, apoptosis, platelet activation, toxicology and Green Fluorescent protein detection. Some of the common clinical studies include: leukemia and lymphoma characterization, immune studies such as T and B cell subset determinations, stem cell content monitoring for transplant, nuclear ploidy and cell cycle determinations and reticulocyte counting.

In addition to analyzing populations of cells and particles for information and data which can be stored electronically and displayed in the form of dot plots and histograms, some flow cytometers have the ability to physically sort out cells or particles of interest. These cells can be sorted out of a heterogeneous mixture into a very pure population for further studies.