5-Laser Flow Cytometer

• Subject Area: Microbiology, Virology and Immunology
• Term: Funded in 2019
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 432104263

The core facility 'Cell Sorting and Cell Analysis' (Central FACS Facility, CFF) at the University Hospital Regensburg was founded in 2004 and guarantees all members of the university and the university hospital direct access to operator-based fluorescence-activated cell sorting and user-based cell analysis for research purposes. In addition, members of the core unit offer professional advice and guidance to all users and are responsible for service and maintenance of the flow cytometry equipment. So far, one high-speed cell sorter (three lasers, nine fluorescence parameters) – the only one available on site - is used for cell sorting. However, an application for an additional more powerful instrument was filed with the DFG by the end of last year and has recently been granted. For cell analysis, the core facility currently provides a flow cytometer with a three-laser, nine-parameter-configuration. For historic reasons, instruments with similar or lower configurations are also operated locally by other departments, yet they are hardly accessible for other users as their internal use has either reached full capacity and/or they are restricted to patient monitoring and diagnostics. Service and maintenance for the flow cytometer in the core facility that was acquired in 2006 will be discontinued by the manufacturer in 2020. Therefore repair of the defective UV-Laser and/or any technical upgrade of the instrument are unjustified for economic reasons. At the same time, the core facility is faced with an increasing number of projects involving complex multiparametric cell analysis (see respective 'Beiblätter Forschung' of the individual applicants) and hence increasing demand for an appropriately equipped flow cytometric instrument, among others by members of the three newly established chairs of the Regensburg Center for Interventional Immunology (RCI) which were filled in 2015 (Interventional Immunology), 2017 (Immunology) and 2018 (Genetic Immunotherapy). The fourth chair will be filled by the end of 2019, again with an immunology research group with high demand for polychromatic flow cytometry. In this respect the envisaged flow cytometer with its five lasers and up to 30 different fluorescence parameters is perfectly suited to meet those needs. The additional high-throughput sampler is the only currently available system supporting automatic sample acquisition from 384-well-plates (but also from 96-well-plates) which is an important pre-requisite for future high-throughput drug screenings (see 'Beiblatt Forschung' Institute of Immunology) aiming at the development and optimization of cellular immunotherapies. The additional option of an on-site upgrade of the instrument to a seven-laser-50-parameter configuration offers enough flexibility to adequately react to future developments in the field and thus keep Regensburg University at the forefront of flow cytometric analysis to secure its position as a competitive research center for years to come.

• DFG Programme: Major Research Instrumentation
• Major Instrumentation: 5-Laser Durchflusszytometer
• Instrumentation Group: 3500 Zellzähl- und Klassiergeräte (außer Blutanalyse), Koloniezähler
• Applicant Institution: Universität Regensburg
• Leader: Privatdozentin Dr. Petra Hoffmann