Analytical 4-Laser flow cytometer

除了两台细胞分选机和一台成像细胞仪外，汉堡-埃彭多夫大学医学中心(UKE)的细胞分析和细胞分选(CCS)核心单元还配备了三台分析流式细胞仪，特别是一台5激光(20色)、一台4激光(17色)和一台3激光(8色)。所有分析流式细胞仪的工作量都很高到非常高。随着5激光装置的安装，CCS核心现在可以提供多达20种颜色的多参数分析，从而满足这一领域日益增长的需求。然而，到目前为止，核心中的许多标准应用程序都包含3到8种颜色。对于这些测量，大多数用户对过去几年中非常流行的3-激光流式细胞仪感到满意(APP。1200小时纯分析时间[不包括维护、维修等]2019年)。不幸的是，3激光装置是在2007年获得的，现在已经有13年的历史了，这导致维修的数量和费用都在增加。因此，我们迫切需要一种替代品，它建立在现有设备的参数基础上，同时也建立在流式细胞术的最新进展之上。后者特别包括第四批黄绿色激光器(和相应的探测器)，以便能够检测现在许多核心用户经常使用的红色蛋白质以及新的红色荧光团。此外，新的流式细胞仪应该可以测量样本体积，从而测量细胞的绝对数量，这将促进高通量毒性分析，因为直接采样将可以从96孔板和384孔板上进行。总而言之，核心设施细胞计数和细胞分选中目前已有13年历史的设备需要被新的中型流式细胞仪取代。这将保证英国细胞学和细胞分选核心单位的持续工作，而且，根据当前分析流式细胞术的最先进水平，为用户创造新的机会。

Beside two cell sorters and an Imaging cytometer, the Cytometry & Cell Sorting (CCS) Core Unit of the University Medical Centre Hamburg-Eppendorf (UKE) has got three analytical flow cytometers, particularly a 5-laser one (20 colours), a 4-laser one (17 colours) and a 3-laser device (8 colours). All analytical flow cytometers have had a high to very high workload. With the installation of the 5-laser device the CCS core can now offer multi-parameter-analyses with up to 20 colours thus covering the increasing need in this area. However, many of the standard applications in the core have so far comprised 3 to 8 colours. For these measurements, most users have been happy with the 3-laser flow cytometer in the last years, which have been quite popular (app. 1200 h pure analysis time [excluding maintenance, service etc.] in 2019). Unfortunately, the 3-laser device was obtained back in 2007 and is now 13 years old, which has resulted in increasing numbers of and costs for repairs. Consequently, we urgently need a replacement, which builds on the parameters of the current device, but also on the recent progress in flow cytometry. The latter particularly includes instalment of a fourth, yellow-green laser (and the respective detectors) in order to enable detection of red proteins now frequently used by many of the core users as well as novel red fluorophores. Moreover, the new flow cytometer should allow measurement of sample volumes and thus absolute cell counts, which will, for example, facilitate high-throughput toxicity analyses, since direct sampling will be possible from 96-well as well as 384-well plates.Altogether, the current 13-year old device in the Core Facility Cytometry & Cell Sorting needs to be replaced by a novel medium-class flow cytometer. This will warrant the continuous work of the Cytometry & Cell Sorting Core Unit of the UKE and, moreover, establish novel opportunities for the user in accord with the current state-of-the-art in analytical flow cytometry.