Flow Cytometry and Cellular Imaging Core - Smithville

Flow Cytometry Services

The Flow Core recently obtained a new BD FACSAria™ Fusion flow cytometer and cell sorter. This instrument provides exceptional sensitivity and resolution for optimal multicolor analysis and cell sorting. Its biosafety cabinet permits analysis of human specimens, and its 561 nm laser allows excitation of a wide array of fluorochromes including DSRed, mTomato and mCherry. The enhanced stream stability increases sorting purity and efficiency to help isolate minor subsets of cells (e.g. stem cells) for subsequent in vitro and in vivo experiments, including cellular imaging.

• Cell Sorting
• Multiparameter Immunofluorescence
• Apoptosis Analysis
• Cell Cycle Analysis
• Single-cell Deposition
• Identification of Side-Population Stem Cells
• Experimental Design and Data Analysis
• Consultation and Training

Miltenyi autoMACS® Pro Separator
The autoMACS® Pro Separator by Miltenyi is an automated high-speed immunomagnetic cell separation system with the ability to process multiple samples at a time. Many cell types from several species and tissue types, including whole blood, can be processed with the autoMACS® Pro with the use of immunomagnetic beads. Cells can be separated using positive selection, depletion or untouched isolation programs. It can sort more than 10 million cells per second from samples of up to 4×10⁹ total cells. The instrument has a touch screen and easily navigable menus. The system reduces manual handling of samples and increases reproducibility

BD FACSAria™II
The BD FACSAria™II is a 14-parameter high-speed cell sorter, run by core personnel. This instrument provides researchers with the capacity to isolate and capture viable cell subsets or single cells for molecular, genetic and/or functional analyses. This 4-laser instrument can distinguish many fluorescent proteins, stem cell and side populations, in addition to fluorescent antibody preparations. Cells are detected by digital BD FACSDiva™ software and collected into one or as many as four tubes simultaneously from a single sample. The automatic cell-dispensing unit on this instrument is able to dispense single cells into 96- or 384-well plates. The sample chamber and collection apparatus are climate-controlled and aerosol-contained.

BD FACSAria™ Fusion
The BD FACSAria™ Fusion  is a 16-parameter high-speed cell sorter.  It is the main instrument of the flow core and run by core personnel. It provides the researchers with the capacity to isolate and capture viable cell subsets or single cells for molecular, genetic and/or functional analyses. This 4-laser instrument can distinguish many fluorescent proteins, stem cell and side populations, in addition to fluorescent antibody preparations. Cells are detected by digital BD FACSDiva™ software and collected into one, or as many as four tubes, simultaneously from one sample. The automatic cell-dispensing unit on this instrument is able to dispense single cells into 96 or 384 well plates. This instrument is contained in a bio-safety cabinet to ensure operator and user protection when collecting bio level 2-2+ samples.

BD LSRFortessa™
The BD LSRFortessa™ is an 11-parameter cell analyzer. This is a 3-laser instrument and is equipped with digital BD FACSDiva™ software. Services provided by this instrument include quantification of cellular subsets based on the expression of surface or intracellular antigens, analysis of apoptosis and cell cycle parameters, and multiparameter analyses. The core offers researchers individualized training on the BD LSRFortessa™ for unassisted operation.

Cellular Imaging Services

Confocal microscopy data acquisition has been significantly enhanced by our new Zeiss LSM880 laser scanning confocal microscope with Airyscan technology. The Airyscan unit substantially improves microscope resolution. The LSM880 has four standard lasers plus a 355 nm (UV) laser for DNA damage studies. The microscope can also be used for fluorescence recovery after photo bleaching (FRAP) and Förster resonance energy transfer (FRET) experiments. It provides enhanced sensitivity, fast scanning times, tile scanning, z-stacking and linear unmixing for comprehensive fluorescence imaging. Our older Zeiss Meta 510 microscope has been converted to a wide-field epifluorscence microscope, equipped for DIC/Nomarski and time-lapse imaging applications. Finally, the core now has Bitplane’s Imaris image processing software for 3D and 4D image reconstructions, and advanced qualitative and quantitative image analysis. 

• Image Acquisition
• Protein Distribution Analysis
• Colocalization Studies
• Tissue Architecture Analyses
• UV DNA Damage Experiments
• FRET and FRAP
• Live Cell Imaging
• Consultation and Training

Zeiss LSM880 with Airyscan
Our Zeiss LSM880 confocal microscope is mounted with five standard lasers (a Diode-405 nm laser, an Argon-458/488/514 nm laser, and solid state 561, 594 and 633 nm lasers), a 355 nm DNA damage laser, and an Airyscan detector. Airyscan is a novel photon detector technology with improved signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) relative to conventional GaAsP detectors. Users achieve a 1.7× higher resolution in all spatial dimensions, 140 nm laterally and 400 nm axially. It also has a dedicated incubator chamber for time-lapse imaging and a FRET/FRAP module to analyze dynamic molecular processes. This scope combined with Bitplane's Imaris image processing software will allow for 3D reconstructions of z-stacked images, quantitative analyses, and cell tracking analyses.