The Laboratory of Flow Cytometry (LFC) provides core research capabilities to serve investigators at RPCI at several levels. The Resource is designed to develop and test new cell preparation procedures, develop new applications of flow cytometry, develop new flow cytometer capabilities and to test new software for analyzing complex multiparameter data in a user friendly and reliable format. For the research investigator, two kinds of services are provided. A training and consultation program is provided so individuals can learn to perform their own data acquisition and analysis. This has been a very successful program because the research investigator gets first hand insight into the capabilities and pitfalls of flow cytometry. With this practical experience, the researcher is better able to design more sophisticated experiments and properly interpret the corresponding results. The service component is designed to provide expertise for experiments that require more advanced capabilities, such as simultaneous 4-8 antibody determinations (4-7 in conjunction with DNA content measurements) or for cell sorting. These tasks are performed by Laboratory of Flow Cytometry personnel. Due to an expansion of research investigators using flow cytometry at RPCI over the last three years and to meet the requirements of some investigators who want to perform up to eight colors of fluorescence measurements and increased sorting including single cell deposition, it is necessary to purchase a new advanced state of the art flow cytometer and cell sorter. This new instrument will expand our current inventory of instruments that are currently maximally utilized as well as increase our capability. Major users who wish to perform more than six-parameter data acquisition will be trained to use the new instrument. This will allow more effective utilization and increase capacity of our current instruments for those who do not require the more advanced capabilities of the new instrument. With the increased number of colors, now up to four, for marking genes with fluorescent expression vectors, the number of molecular biologists that require cell sorting has become a dominant need at our Institute. The new instrument will supplement our current overburdened instrument in this need. In recent months, the Institute mounted aggressive recruitment efforts, resulting in 42 clinician scientists and department leaders in Pharmacology and Therapeutics; Cancer Genetics; Immunology, Biophysical Therapy, Structural Biology and Prevention. It is expected that an additional 15-20 new faculties will be recruited to the scientific and clinical programs within the next year or two, thus, the need for updated flow cytometry will be expanded significantly.
