instrumentation

CCMI provides the following instrumentation, comprising flow cytometry, digital microscopy, 2-D imaging and multiwell plate assays:-

The Becton-Dickinson FACScan is an easy to operate single laser analytical flow cytometer utilizing single line excitation at 488nm. Three fluorescence colors may be detected for each cell (green, orange, red). Single channel pulse processing option is useful for doublet discrimination in cell cycle assays.

The Becton-Dickinson LSR I is a 3-laser 6-color analytical flow cytometer. Excitation is provided at 325 nm, 488 nm and 633 nm. In addition to the usual scatter parameters, up to to 6 user-defined fluorescence colors may be detected per cell. Dual pulse-processing cards allow doublet discrimination and ratio calculations.

The Becton-Dickinson FACS Vantage SE DiVa is a high-speed multi-color multi-laser cell sorter. Two scatter parameters and up to 8 fluorescence colors may be collected per cell. Excitation sources include 2 Coherent I-90 high-power argon-ion lasers which provide primary lines at ~350 nm, 458 nm, 476 nm, 496 nm, 488 nm and 514 nm. Also available are a 35 mW helium-neon laser providing 633 nm excitation and a 10 mW 561 nm DPSS unit. TurboSort option™ allows cell sorting at high speeds, up to 30,000 cells/sec. Large cells may be sorted. Four populations may be sorted simultaneously, or cells may be sorted into multiwell plates.

The Leica TCS SP2 AOBS is a state of the art confocal microscope with specially selected high sensitivity color detectors. The AOBS is a programmable beam splitter allowing up to 4 freely variable spectral channels may be acquired simultaneously. Laser lines available are: 405 nm, 458 nm, 476 nm, 488 nm, 496 nm, 514 nm, 561 nm and 633 nm. The 561 nm DPSS laser provides approximately 10 times greater sensitivity compared with a conventional green HeNe when used with dyes such as Alexa 594. A fast Z drive is present, allowing rapid xz scans.

The DeltaVision is a wide-field restoration (deconvolution) microscope. A mecury arc lamp provides flexible excitation wavelengths and the instrument has emission filters tailored to fluorochromes such as DAPI, CFP, FITC/GFP, YFP, Rhodamine/Texas Red and Cy5. The deconvolution software dramatically increases sharpness of the image. A high sensitivity cooled CCD camera allows short exposure times, making this machine particularly suited to live cell work. Bioptechs thermal control is available.

The HTS7000+ is a plate reader capable of assessing fluorescence, chemiluminescence or absorbance in standard multi-well plates. absorbance. A wide range of excitation and emission filters are available. Excitation wavelengths may be chosen in a range between ~260 nm and ~650 nm. The instrument has a built-in incubator and shaker for kinetic studies.

The Typhoon 8600 is a variable mode flat bed 2-dimensional scanner. It may be used to scan phosphor screens to quantitate radioactivity in gels and blots, scans chemifluorescent samples and its twin lasers (532 nm and 635 nm) enable scanning of fluorescent dyes (including fluorescein-like dyes) in samples.

The Fuji FLA-5100 is a multi-purpose 2-dimensional scanner capable of scanning phosphor screens and fluorescence/chemifluorescence in gels/blots or microplates, and can also digitize existing autorads. The instrument has 4 excitation lasers covering blue to infra-red: (473 nm, 532 nm, 635 nm and 670 nm) allowing it to be used with a wide range of fluors. Maximum scan resolution is 10 µm.