Flow cytometry (FC) is an essential resource in modern biomedical research. The Cancer Center Flow Cytometry Core at Case Western Reserve University (CWRU) and University Hospitals of Cleveland (UHC) has continuously functioned since 1985 with an average annual percentage growth of 12% per year. The facility maintains flow cytometers and cell sorters and provides cytometry expertise to support research and clinical trials at CWRU/UHC. Current instrumentation is up-to-date, well maintained, and heavily used. The Flow Cytometry Core has been continuously funded through an NIH funded P30 Comprehensive Cancer Center grant (since 1987) and user support. The current user base is approximately 134 principal investigators (principal investigators accessing resources within last 5 years) with an average use by 70 laboratories per year. We have been fortunate to receive funding through the Shared Instrumentation Program in 1990 and 2000 for cell sorters. Currently, a group of six NIH funded investigators, most of whom are major users of flow cytometry, need to make similar quantitative measurements of gene expression on cells and cells within tissues that are correlated with parameterized morphology and sub-cellular localization. The Compucyte iCyte Imaging Cytometer is a commercially available cytometer that offers this capability. This is an application to fund acquisition of this instrument for installation within and administration by the Cancer Center Flow Cytometry Core. Although the instrument would currently enhance the research of 6 investigators, the administration of the instrument within this core facility would ensure that additional investigators could utilize the instrument by a formal, non-restrictive access mechanism.
