Flow Cytometry and Cell Sorting Laboratory
Requirements
Necessary information before bringing samples to the flow cytometry and cell sorting facility:
- Charges for experiments will begin at the time of the appointment. Clients will be charged for the time if they are late unless they provide 4 hours telephone notice as to the time change. It is important to think about how long your sample will take to prepare and plan accordingly. The facility is extremely busy and delays mean others can't use the equipment.
- Clients must give 24 hours notice of cancellation or they will be charged for the experiment.
- For sorting experiments, client should bring tubes and medium to sort into. It is best not to sort into an empty tube. Antibiotics are recommended for media to be sorted into. Facility personnel can provide information as to the appropriate tubes to bring. Samples for sorting should be at 10-20 million cells per milliliter of media.
- Please make sure to bring all appropriate negative and single color controls for your experiments. Cells only tubes are useful for eliminating background floursescence, especially with cell-cultured cells. If you have questions about your controls, please contact Janet Dow for assistance.
- Clients with transfected samples should always bring an untransfected sample for comparision.
- All experiments for the analyzers must be brought in BD Falcon polystyrene round bottom tubes-12 x 75 mm style. These can be purchased from Fisher Scientific under state contract. The BD number is 352054. If polystyrene tubes are a problem for your cells of interest, please contact facility personnel for assistance.
- For sorting, it is possible to sort from a number of tubes-microcentrifuge tubes, 5ml round bottom tubes, 15 or 50 ml conical centrifuge tubes. Cells can be sorted into the same variety of tubes.
- For blood, see this protocol: procedure for flow cytometry prep for blood