Union Biometrica BIOSORTER PRO large-particle flow cytometer

描述(由申请人提供)：一个由五名美国国立卫生研究院资助的研究人员组成的用户小组请求资金购买Union Biometrica BIOSORTER-PRO大颗粒流式细胞仪。该仪器的主要应用是分类、测量和以其他方式处理蠕虫，特别是常见的实验室模式生物秀丽线虫。以自动化、高通量方式处理样本的能力，以及区分携带荧光标记(例如绿色荧光蛋白，GFP)的个体的额外能力，将改变用户可行的项目的种类和规模。主要用户在他们的研究项目中主要或专门使用线虫。秀丽线虫作为生物医学研究模型系统的内在力量在于它的生物简单性、体积小和生成时间快。这些特征意味着生物体本身的特性很少会限制实验的吞吐量。相反，这些限制是由内在的困难施加的，这些限制是对个体(几乎是微小的)特征进行评分的困难。蠕虫分类器的巨大价值在于极大地增加了各种实验的潜在吞吐量，从而允许用户充分利用线虫系统的固有效用。然而，配备了HER的仪器能够处理各种生物和细胞，其应用远远超出了蠕虫生物学。另外一组11个小用户(大多数是由NIH资助的)具有不同的应用，包括果蝇、人类胰岛、海兔神经元、Axolotl胚胎和海洋无脊椎动物幼虫。该仪器将放置在佛罗里达大学生物技术跨学科研究中心流式细胞术核心设施中并由其管理。目前在佛罗里达州还没有这样的仪器。主要用户位于佛罗里达大学和迈阿密大学；次要用户位于密歇根大学和佛罗里达州周围的其他机构。除了极大地推进用户的个人研究计划外，仪器在中央位置的可用性 将提供重要的地区性资源，并促进全州的协作研究。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): A user group of five NIH-funded investigators requests funds to purchase a Union Biometrica BIOSORTER- PRO large-particle flow cytometer. A primary application of the instrument is sorting, measuring, and otherwise handling worms, specifically the common laboratory model organism Caenorhabditis elegans. The ability to handle samples in an automated, high-throughput fashion, with the additional ability to discriminate between individuals carrying fluorescent markers (e.g., green fluorescent protein, GFP), will transform both the kind and the magnitude of projects feasible to the users. The major users primarily or exclusively employ C. elegans in their research programs. The inherent power of C. elegans as a model system in biomedical research resides in its biological simplicity, its small size, and its rapid generation time. These features mean that the properties of the organism itself rarely limit the throughput of an experiment. Rather, the limitations are practical ones imposed by the inherent difficulty of scoring traits on individuals that are (almost microscopic in size. The great value of the worm sorter is to greatly increase the potential throughput of a wide variety of experiments, thereby allowing the users to leverage the inherent utility of the C. elegans system to its fullest potential. However, the instrument as outfitted her is capable of handling a diverse variety of organisms and cells, and its applications extend far beyond worm biology. An additional group of 11 minor users (most NIH- funded) have disparate applications including Drosophila, human pancreatic islets, Aplysia neurons, Axolotl embryos and marine invertebrate larvae. The instrument will be located in and managed by the University of Florida Interdisciplinary Center for Biotechnology Research Flow Cytometry core facility. There is currently no such instrument located in the state of Florida. The major users are located at the University of Florida and the University of Miami; minor users are situated both at UF and at other institutions around the state of Florida. In addition to greatly advancing the individual research programs of the users, the availability of the instrument in a central location in the state of Florida will provide an important regional resource and foster collaborative research throughout the state.