CORE--FLOW CYTOMETRY FACILITY

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The UPCI Flow Cytometry Facility moved to its new location at the Hillman Cancer Center Research Pavilion in September 2002. The new laboratory consists of a 200 ft 2 user laboratory (UserLab), and a 1000 ft 2 cell sorting laboratory. The Flow Cytometry Facility of the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute provides services to over 50 users within the UPCI and 20 non-UPCI users. These services fall into five categories: 1) Training users to operate the Facility's two user-dedicated analytical flow cytometers; 2) Performing high speed fluorescence activated cell sorting for investigators; 3) Insuring that the instruments in the facility are properly calibrated on a daily basis and advising users concerning the proper settings for their experiments; 4) Advising investigators on experimental design and data analysis and assisting in performance of complex multi-parameter experiments; and 5) Archiving all data produced by the facility. The current instrumentation at the UPCI Flow Cytometry Facility includes a Dako-Cytomation MoFLo high speed cell sorter, equipped with a CytoShield Biocontainment hood, a Dako-Cytomation CyAn 9-color high speed 9 color analyzer, and two Beckman Coulter XL 4-color analyzers. Despite the relocation to the Hillman Cancer Center, the usage of the flow cytometry facility has remained high, with cell sorting exclusive of setup time regularly exceeding 50% of absolute capacity (100 hours/month) and analytical cytometry exceeding 50% of business-hour capacity (160 hours/instrument/month). We anticipate that despite the loss of non-UPCI users resulting from the move, the recruitment of several new UPCI investigators and our continuing emphasis on education and training will more than make up for the loss of non-UPCI investigators.