Laser Scanning Cytometer for Purdue University

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DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Flow cytometry capabilities have been maturing at Purdue University over the past 15 years. Since 1987, we have upgraded our flow cytometers and imaging instruments including support from SIG (1993, 2000, 2001) which allowed us to maintain high quality services and instruments to the faculty of the university. Since 1988, the Purdue University Cytometry Laboratories (PUCL) has maintained continuous service to the faculty. Over 366 faculty have used the facility in the past 15 years. Over 300 graduate students have been trained at advanced levels. The PUCL facility however, is not just about providing instrument support to researchers. Once the instruments are in place, we provide excellent technical support and quality advice. We maintain 4 full time technicians and a software expert whose entire role is to provide quality support to investigators. Instrumentation that comes into this facility is guaranteed to be not only available to faculty, but is provided a la carte with a commitment to quality service. We successfully introduced flow cytometry to many faculty who were not aware of its capability and supported those who have driven our program by participating in our SIG grants. We now find ourselves challenged by the significant development of cytomics - functional analysis with a higher need for parameterized morphology and sub-cellular localization and gene expression on cells in cell cultures and in tissue while maintaining spatial correlations. The Compucyte iCyte Imaging Cytometer is a commercially available cytometer that offers this capability for which this application requests funding. Although driven by 4 primary and 6 secondary users, our track record predicts that it will be used by many more faculty as our experience in its operation and management matures. Placement of a shared resource into a facility that has a strong track record of sharing and support is a cost effective way of supporting NIH funded researchers at this institution.