The acquisition of another cell sorter for our flow cytometry facility at Baylor College of Medicine is essential to maintain and to improve our ability to meet the needs of the scientific community at Baylor. The investigators in the project all have NIH support and varied projects with an immunologic theme. Dr. Donald Anderson is interested in the role of adherence proteins (CDW18) in human disease conditions which involve impaired neutrophil function. He wishes to use flow cytometry to characterize expression of these adherence molecules before and after possible up regulation in vitro. In addition, he will characterize newly developed monoclonal antibodies reactive to other determinants than CDW18. Dr. David Huston has prepared monoclonal antithymocyte autoantibodies from NZB mice and intends to characterize their reactivity and their role in disease development. He will use routine and triple color flow cytometry as well as sorting of subpopulations of T cells. Dr. Don Marcus is examining the expression of glycosphingolipid antigens and class II antigens on human endothelial cells after exposure to IL1 and gamma interferon using flow cytometry. Dr. Geraldine Miller is currently examining the response to cryptococci in humans with particular interest in dissecting the response. She will use the instrument to clone T cell lines and EBV transformed B cell lines derived from these cultures. In particular, she is interested in the Leu 1+ (CD5) B cell and its role in the response to cryptococci. Dr. Susan Rich intends to examine subpopulations of murine suppressor cells for responsiveness to proliferative and differentiative signals. Her uses for instrumentation include routine fluorescence analysis as well as measurement of DNA content and Ca++ ion mobilization. She also wishes to sort populations of living cells based on their DNA content. Dr. James Thomas intends to characterize autoantibodies from patients with diabetes and is interested in the human immune response to insulin. He intends to examine cell surface characteristics of insulin specific T cells and to use flow cytometry to clone idiotype specific B cells. Dr. Lewis will oversee usage of the instrument and be responsible for development of new applications and techniques on both instruments.
