The following equipment and supplies are available for use by NIEHS scientists in conducting their research. The equipment and supply capabilities are listed for easy reference.
FACSORT
The Becton Dickinson FACSort Flow Cytometer combines the speed of single cell fluorescent analysis with the ease of a user-friendly, computer-based system. This instrument is equipped with a single 488 nm argon laser and can analyze up to 3 different fluorescent markers from a single sample. This instrument has a fixed laser alignment and filter set-up on the optical bench, enabling this unit to be routinely used by multiple investigators at NIEHS.
The Becton Dickinson LSR II Flow Cytometer is the facility’s versatile 10-color benchtop research instrument that combines 4 fixed-aligned, air-cooled lasers for consistent and stable day-to-day performance. The LSR II has available a Lightwave Xcyte UV laser (20 mW @ 355 nm), a Sapphire blue laser (20 mW @ 488 nm), a VioFlame Plus violet laser (25 mW @ 405 nm), and a HeNe laser (18 mW @ 633 nm). The collection optics use octagon and trigon arrays for increased sensitivity and flexibility in a fiber optic system. Currently, 4 colors can be detected from the 488 nm laser, while 2 colors can be detected from the other 3 lasers. Additionally, signal processing is achieved by a digital acquisition system, providing more accurate fluorescent measurements. The LSR II is driven by BD FACSDiva software with features such as reusable acquisition templates, automated compensation, and offline compensation.
The Becton Dickinson FACSVantage SE Flow Cytometer is the facility’s most powerful multi-laser, multi-color instrument, outfitted with the both the TurboSort and CloneCyt options. This instrument is equipped with three distinct lasers; a 488 nm laser, a UV or 408 nm laser, and a Spectrum 70C multi-line laser, permitting up to 10 different lines of excitation. The optical bench can detect up to 7 different colors using removable filters, thus up to 9 different characteristics of a single cell can be determined from an individual sample. The TurboSort and CloneCyt options combined with the BD FACSDiva software permits high speed sorting of 4 distinct populations of cells at the same time, with a rate up to 15,000 cells per second, along with the flexibility to sort these cells into various tubes, multi-well plates, or directly onto a microscope slide.
Cell Lab Quanta SC
The Cell Lab Quanta SC by Beckman Coulter is a flow cytometric system that simultaneously measures electronic volume, side scatter and three fluorescent colors to provide unsurpassed population resolution and accurate cell size and volume measurements. This instrument has multiple excitation wavelengths, including a 488 nm laser and a UV light source that can be optimized for excitation at 366, 405, 435 nm. The simultaneous measure of electronic volume and fluorescence are made in the same spatial location consisting of a 70 μm long flow cell with an equilateral triangular cross-section of 70 μm per side. A 100 W stabilized arc lamp with a 30 μm spot size is used as a light source for the fluorescence measurements. The optical system consists of a 100X oil immersion micro-objective with a numerical aperture of 1.25 to collect the fluorescent emission. All signals are collected with either solid-state photo detectors or PMTs. Together with interchangeable filters, the Cell Lab Quanta SC allows flexible fluorochrome selection for a variety of multicolor applications.
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