Flow Facility

Flow cytometry is a technology used to measure complex cell phenotype and functions including:

• Cell surface markers
• Intracellular markers
• Cytokine secretion
• Phosphoprotein signalling
• Cell proliferation
• Cell viability and apoptosis
• DNA content
• Cell cycle.

The Telethon Kids Flow Facility is equipped with 3 flow cytometers/analysers, one cell sorter and one cell separator.

BD LSRFortessa (Donated by The Telethon Adventurers)

• 355nm (UV) 405nm (Violet), 488nm (Blue), 561nm (Yellow/Green) and 640nm (Red) excitation lasers
• 18 fluorescence parameters
• HTS sampling from 96 and 384 well plates
• FACSDiva v8.0.1

BD LSRFortessa X-20

• 355nm (UV) 405nm (Violet), 488nm (Blue), 561nm (Yellow/Green) and 640nm (Red) excitation lasers
• 18 fluorescence parameters
• HTS sampling from 96 and 384 well plates
• FACSDiva v8.0.1

BD FACSAria III Cell Sorter (Donated by The Telethon Adventurers)

• 375/405nm (UV/Violet), 488nm (Blue), 561nm (Yellow/Green) and 630nm (Red) excitation lasers
• 16 fluorescence parameters
• Sorts up to 4 pure population simultaneously
• Collect into 5 or 15mL tubes or slides or 6-384 well plates
• Single cell sort
• Sorter housed in a state of the art biohazard cabinet
• FACSDiva v8.0.1

AutoMACS Pro Separator

The autoMACS Pro is an alternative to flow cytometry based cell sorter. It has the ability to isolate cells based on MACS MicroBead technology. Briefly, cells are magnetically labelled directly or indirectly using antibody conjugated MicroBeads (superparamagnetic particles). When the cells are passed through magnetic columns labelled and unlabelled cells are separated and collected in separate tubes. The separated cells can be used for any downstream application without the need for removal of labelled MicroBeads.

This cell separation method can also be used to deplete unwanted cells (for example, from a tissue harvest) before flow cytometry analyses or as an enrichment step before cell sorting.

The facility is also equipped with Gentle MACS Octo Dissociator with Heaters for studies that require homogenization of tissue samples.