Flow Cytometer for Advanced Cell marker Analysis

随着细胞的发育和生长，它们表达不同的蛋白质，执行生命所需的功能。例如，细胞从一种细胞命运(如骨髓干细胞)向另一种细胞(如提供免疫的T细胞)的发育伴随着被称为新命运细胞标记物的蛋白质的增加。细胞标记已被描述为不同的细胞命运，包括特定器官(如肝脏或脑细胞)、疾病(如癌症或关节炎)或细胞周期各阶段(活跃复制或死亡)上的标记。为了分析细胞标志物的表达，需要能够分离复杂的细胞混合物，并探测每个细胞是否存在特定的标志物。这最好是用流式细胞术来完成的。流式细胞术是一种先进的技术，用于检测和测量单个细胞上是否存在细胞标记物，收集数百万个细胞群体中单个细胞上存在的标记物的信息。流式细胞仪捕捉到的观察结果提供了复杂细胞混合物的健康、发育和功能状态的准确和详细的图像。在多伦多大学莱斯利丹药学院，我们使用流式细胞术来帮助我们表征几种细胞，特别是血细胞、肝细胞和脑细胞，以更好地了解可能对人类健康和疾病产生影响的细胞功能。目前，我们学院有10个不同的实验室依靠流式细胞仪来推进他们的生物学和生物技术研究。这项研究为大脑发育、药物和营养转运体的控制、糖尿病如何影响细胞行为等提供了新的见解。流式细胞术是一种强大而独特的技术，被认为是细胞标志物分析的金标准。因此，它在我们的研究和我们的高素质人才培养中发挥着至关重要的作用。在流式细胞仪上培训我们的学生的机会使我们的受训人员能够在未来从事竞争激烈的工作，例如生物技术公司的科学家角色、产品开发和培训专家、学术和诊断设施的研究人员，以及教授或实验室课程讲师等学术角色。这一培训将丰富加拿大的科学人才，并使我们的学生和行业保持全球竞争力。我们现有的流式细胞仪已经到了使用寿命的尽头，必须更换。如果不尽快购买替换设备，我们的研究将被搁置，因为外部付费使用设施不在我们的研究预算范围内。购买替代的流式细胞仪将使我们能够继续我们的重要工作，并培训下一代加拿大细胞生物学家。

As cells develop and grow, they express different proteins that perform the functions required for life. For instance, cell development from one cell fate (such as a bone marrow stem cell) to another (such as an immunity-providing T cell) is concomitant with an increase in proteins known as cell markers of the new fate. Cell markers have been described for diverse cell fates, including those on specific organs (like liver or brain cells), diseases (such as cancer or arthritis), or stages of the cell cycle (actively replicating or dying). To perform analyses of cell marker expression, one requires the ability to separate a complex mixture of cells and probe each cell for the presence or absence of specific markers. This is best accomplished with the use of flow cytometry. Flow cytometry is an advanced technique used to detect and measure the presence of cell markers on individual cells, collecting information about the markers present on individual cells within populations of millions of cells. The observations captured by a flow cytometer give an accurate and detailed picture of the health, development, and functional states of complex mixtures of cells. At the Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy at the University of Toronto, we use flow cytometry to help us characterize several cells, in particular, blood cells, liver cells, and brain cells, to better understand cell function that may translate to human health and disease. Currently, 10 different labs within our Faculty rely on a flow cytometer to advance their biology and biotechnology research. This research powers new insights into brain development, the control of drug and nutrient transporters, how diabetes impacts cell behaviours, and so much more. Flow cytometry is a powerful and unique technique considered the gold standard for cell marker analysis. As such, it plays a crucial role in our research and our highly qualified personnel training. Opportunities to train our students on a flow cytometer open our trainees to competitive future jobs such as scientist roles in biotech companies, product development and training specialists, researchers in academic and diagnostic facilities, and academic roles such as professors or lab course instructors. This training will enrich Canada's scientific talent and keep our students and industries globally competitive. Our existing flow cytometer has reached the end of its useful lifetime and must be replaced. Without a replacement purchased soon, our research will be sidelined since external, pay-for-use facilities are outside the scope of our research budgets. The purchase of a replacement flow cytometer will allow us to continue our important work and train the next generation of Canadian cell biologists.