Flow cytometer with fluorescence-activated cell sorting

• Subject Area: Medicine
• Term: since 2026
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 577331492

Flow cytometry with fluorescence-activated cell sorting has developed into a very powerful and versatile analytical method that is widely used in the life sciences as well as in related fields. The proposed apparatus offers, on the one hand, the analytical capabilities of a flow cytometer for the specific determination of cell properties combined with the option of sorting cell populations based on characteristic features, such as the expression of specific surface markers. The selective deposition of the cells enables subsequent in-depth analysis or further cultivation of the population of interest. It is thus ideally suited to answer diverse and highly topical questions in the field of pharmaceutical sciences. The apparatus is therefore to be made available to the research groups of the Department of Pharmacy and the interdisciplinary Research Centre of Pharmaceutical Engineering (PVZ) of the TU Braunschweig, which work together in the core research area of "Engineering for Health" in the field of drug research. The focus here is on the development and formulation of active substances as well as preclinical testing, in particular the development of alternative methods to animal experiments (3R principle). On the one hand, the device will be used to obtain very pure primary cell cultures, including cerebral microvascular endothelial cells or alpha, beta and delta cells of the pancreas, which, after immortalization, will form the basis for new in vitro models, e.g. of the blood-brain barrier, and organ-on-chip systems, or will be used for research on insulin secretion or gestational diabetes. A major field of application of the flow cytometer with cell sorting is therefore the development and characterization of cell-based replacement methods for animal testing as well as pharmacological and clinical-pharmaceutical basic research. On the other hand, the device is to be used in the development and characterization of new active substances for GPCR. The broad application possibilities of the proposed device are reflected in the diversity of the planned work.

• DFG Programme: Major Research Instrumentation
• Major Instrumentation: Durchflusszytometer mit fluoreszenzaktivierter Zellsortierung
• Instrumentation Group: 3500 Zellzähl- und Klassiergeräte (außer Blutanalyse), Koloniezähler
• Applicant Institution: Technische Universität Braunschweig
• Leader: Professor Dr. Stephan Reichl