The UCLA Comprehensive Cancer Center (JCCC) Flow Cytometry Core Facility was reorganized in December, 1988. New space was assigned in the Cancer Center Building, and a small analytic flow cytometer was purchased and installed. The Director of the Cancer Center, the Dean of the UCLA School of Medicine, and the Dean of Life Sciences contribute funds to the operation of the Facility. Additional secure funding is available through 1983 on a Cancer Center Core Support Grant, and future funding to keep the laboratory operational is assured through multiple interested UCLA investigators and administrators. The goal of the facility is to coordinate flow cytometry resources at UCLA to meet the needs of all investigators in the UCLA scientific community who require this technology for their research. It will provide cell sorting and multi-parameter fluorescence analysis. The focus will be on providing flow cytometry services to UCLA investigators who have no other access to flow cytometry, or who are unable to perform specific sorting or specialized techniques on the instrument to which they do have access. The FACStar Plus, requested here, is urgently needed. It will be used 40 to 60 hours/week--80% for sorting, and 20% for multi-color fluorescent analysis. There is no accessible and operational cell sorter at UCLA, and the need of UCLA investigators for flow cytometric cell sorting is not being met. Furthermore, several users need the 6-parameter analytic capability of the FACStar Plus. The research of these investigators is being retarded because of this deficiency in state-of-the-art research equipment at UCLA. The FACStar Plus will relieve these deficiencies. The design of the VAXstation network, which interfaces between the FACS and users, is exceptional, and meets the requirements of a high volume multi- user facility. The expertise and dedication of Dr. Giorgi, the new Director of the Facility, and of her staff, including Ms. Ingrid Schmid, will assure the success of the facility. Although there are a number of flow cytometers at UCLA, all are fully dedicated to the projects for which they were purchased. They are not available for service work. Many investigators at UCLA are unable to obtain access to flow cytometry for their research. The expertise for use of the instrument is available at UCLA, and UCLA has made a major commitment to flow cytometry by establishing the JCCC Core Flow Cytometry Facility. The missing component is the instrument--the FACStar Plus and accessory equipment.
| McCoy, K L; Noone, M; Inman, J K et al. (1993) Exogenous antigens internalized through transferrin receptors activate CD4+ T cells. J Immunol 150:1691-704 |
