Spectral 5-Laser Cell Sorter for BSL-2 specimens

• Subject Area: Microbiology, Virology and Immunology
• Term: Funded in 2024
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 542997790

Over the last decade, highly sensitive and resolving methodologies - including scRNA-seq, advanced microscopy techniques and multi-color flow-cytometry, together with computational analytics methods - allowed the scientific community to identify unprecedent variability in transcriptome, localization, function and surface phenotype among multiple immune populations. To further complement these approaches, cutting-edge sorting platforms to accurately isolate complex and discrete subsets of viable leukocytes from different models and organs represent an indispensable tool. Furthermore, from the SARS CoV-2 pandemic we have learnt that BSL2 level platforms are dramatically required to safely isolate potentially infectious specimens in order to describe the complex immune interactions occurring during multiple infectious scenarios. The device applied for here is a fully operational multifluorescent sorting BSL2 platform which is primarily intended to allow researchers at the University of Münster in the research areas of immunology, infectiology and critical care medicine to reveal the complex and highly dynamic heterogeneity of the immune system, and to obtain unprecedented, in-depth understandings of the pathophysiological determinants underlying immune disorders at different stages of diverse chronic and acute inflammatory scenarios. With the power of this state-of-the-art sorting technique, the aim is to enable scientists at the University of Münster to safely isolate high-quality subsets of fresh and viable leukocytes from multiple sources, which will be instrumental for multiple downstream applications from phenotypical, transcriptomics, proteomics and metabolomics analyses, to in vitro and in vivo functional studies.

• DFG Programme: Major Research Instrumentation
• Major Instrumentation: Spektrales Zellsortiersystem für BSL2 Proben
• Instrumentation Group: 3500 Zellzähl- und Klassiergeräte (außer Blutanalyse), Koloniezähler
• Applicant Institution: Universität Münster
• Leader: Professor Dr. Oliver Söhnlein