An automated cell counter for immunological studies

来自美国兽医学院（FVM）的猪疾病研究小组和魁北克医学研究小组的研究人员，de Montréal和学院本身构成了一个多元化的基础免疫生物学研究人员和临床医生群体，他们有着共同的目标：增加我们对由突出的动物和人畜共患病病原体引起的疾病以及免疫性疾病（如哮喘）的机制的了解。该研究旨在确定针对这些病原体的保护性免疫的关键机制，并帮助推进新型疫苗、改进的免疫疗法和诊断工具的开发。我们的研究涉及不同但相互关联的学科，如分子生物学，宿主-病原体相互作用，基础免疫学和细菌致病机理。我们的研究方法需要分析来自不同宿主（小鼠，人类，马和猪）的特定细胞类型的细胞反应，以研究这些细胞在面对病原体或压力时所经历的生物过程。许多细胞类型，如树突状细胞和NK细胞，从组织中回收的数量很少（特别是在小鼠工作的情况下），在实验操作过程中保持其活力是成功实验的关键。自动细胞计数器可以在大约30秒内生成细胞计数、尺寸测量和浓度计算，数据生成速度比手动计数快很多倍。因此，高水平的可重复性，准确性和速度相结合，以提高我们的细胞制剂的产量和半衰期。最小的样本量用于计数到比手动计数高得多的总数，从而减少计数误差，更重要的是，减少所需的细胞材料的量。还可以进行活力和异质细胞分析。这项技术代表了实现我们研究目标的有利工具，并将大大有助于实现我们小组最近确定的主要目标：在FMV集中建立一个独特的猪免疫工具库，以支持国家和国际合作。

The investigators from the Groupe de Recherche sur les Maladies Infectieuses du Porc and the Groupe de recherche en médecine équine du Québec at the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine (FVM), U. de Montréal, and the Faculty itself constitute a diversified group of fundamental immunobiology researchers and clinicians who share the same goal: to increase our knowledge on the mechanisms underlying diseases induced by prominent animal and zoonotic pathogens as well as immunological disorders such as asthma. The research aims to identify critical mechanisms of protective immunity against these pathogens and to help advance the development of novel vaccines, improved immunotherapies and diagnostic tools. Our research involves divergent but inter-connected disciplines, such as molecular biology, host-pathogen interactions, basic immunology and bacterial pathogenesis. Our research approaches require analysis of cellular responses of specific cell types from diverse hosts (mouse, humans, horses and pigs), for studying biological processes experienced by these cells when facing pathogens or under stress. Many cell types, such as dendritic cells and NK cells are recovered at low numbers from tissues (especially in the case of mouse work) and the preservation of their viability during experimental manipulations is key for a successful experiment. An automated cell counter, which can generate cell counts, size measurements, and concentration calculations in approximately 30 seconds, allows the generation of data many times faster than manual counting. Thus, high level of repeatability, accuracy and speed are combined to improve the yield and half-life of our cell preparations. Minimal sample amounts are used for counting to a total number much higher than hand-count, thus reducing counting error and, more importantly, the amount of cellular material required. Viability and heterogeneous cell analysis can also be performed. This technology represents an advantageous tool for achieving our research goals, and will greatly contribute to attain a major aim recently fixed by our group: to centralize at the FMV a unique porcine immunological tool bank to support national and international collaborations.