Flow Cytometry Core

FACSAria Fusion

A biosafety cabinet-enclosed high-speed cell sorting instrument equipped with 375nm, 405nm, 445nm, 488nm, 561nm, and 640nm lasers.

Detector combination:

1. FSC, SSC, 2 blue or 445nm, 5 yellow-green, 6 violet, and 3 red.

2. FSC, SSC, 2 blue or 445nm, 5 yellow-green, 2 UV, and 3 red. 

BD FACSAria III

A biosafety cabinet-enclosed high-speed cell-sorting instrument equipped with 375nm, 405nm, 488nm, 561nm and 640nm laser.

Detector combination:

1. FSC, SSC, 2 blue, 5 yellow-green, 6 violet, and 3 red.
2. FSC, SSC, 2 blue, 5 yellow-green, 2 UV, and 3 red.

BD FACSMelody

A BSC-enclosed user-operated cell sorting instrument, equipped with 405nm, 488nm and 561nm lasers. Capable of two-way sorting in 8 colours (FSC, SSC, 2 blue, 2 violet, 4 yellow-green) and compatible with multiple tube formats (1.5-, 2.0- and 5.0-mL tubes).

Uses the new BD FACSChorus software, designed to be intuitive and easy to use so that even a new user can become proficient at sorting quickly. Software guides you through the entire cell sorting process using a streamlined workflow that eliminates manual setup and monitoring. The data acquired is FlowJo compatible.

BD FACSymphony

A custom-order cell analyzer that is equipped with 5 lasers (355nm, 405nm, 488nm, 561nm, 637nm) and enables the simultaneous measurement of 28 colours. This is a flow cytometry based technology and therefore does not require any significant changes to your existing workflow. The data acquisition & analysis are done through FACSDiva 8, same as our Fortessa and Aria platforms. FlowJo Software can be used for high parameter data analysis as well.

BD Fortessa I & Fortessa II

A multicolour analyzer with 405nm, 488nm, 561nm and 640nm lasers. Detector combination: 2 blue, 5 yellow-green, 6 violet, and 3 red.

Fortessa I is equipped with a High-Throughput Sampler for multi-well plates that can be connected on demand.

BD FACSCalibur — Tangerine & Pistachio

Analyzers with 488nm and 640nm laser. Colour combination: FSC, SSC, 3 blue, and 1 red.

Fluidigm DVS CyTOF2

A state-of-the-art instrument that is the combination of Flow Cytometry and Mass Spectrometry that allows over 40 biomarker detection simultaneously.

VetNovations VetABC blood analyzer

An automated hematology analyzer capable of analyzing blood samples from various animal species.

Parameters detected:

WBC, RBC, PLT, HGB, HCT, MCV, MCH, MCHC, RDW, MPV
Lymphocytes (% and #), Monocytes (% and #), Granulocytes (% and #), Eosinophiles (%)
3 Histograms – Leukocytes, Erythrocytes & Thrombocytes

Beckman Coulter vi-CELL viability analyzer

Provides a cost effective means to perform the trypan blue dye exclusion method. Allows users to load up to 10 samples at once for easy and automated cell counting.

Product Features:

• % Viability
• Total cell concentration
• Total viable cell concentration
• Mean cell size
• Real time cellula

It is mandatory that you sign up for an instrument prior to running your experiment on that instrument. This will guarantee the availability of the instrument for you. If you do NOT book the instrument but another person made that same booking, then that person has the right to the instrument over you during that time slot. 

Please log onto our online schedule at https://ca.ilab.agilent.com/service_center/show_external/3726. If you do NOT have an account, then please click “sign-up” at the top right corner of the page and follow instructions to create an account.

Please review the following steps for booking our analyzers.

Analyzers

• Click “Reservation”.
• In order to view the schedule, choose instrument(s) of interest listed in the panel on the right side of the page.
• In the calendar, click the name of the instrument of interest. You will then be re-directed to the calendar of the selected instrument.
• Book your desire time slot by clicking, holding, dragging and letting go of the left-click button of the mouse.
• Fill out further information if necessary.
• Click “save reservation” to confirm your booking.

Cell-sorters

• Please review the following steps for booking cell-sorting experiments.
• Please log onto our online schedule at https://ca.ilab.agilent.com/service_center/show_external/3726. If you do NOT have an account, then please click “sign-up” and follow instructions to create an account.
• Click “Reservation”
• In order to view the schedule, choose instrument(s) of interest listed in the panel on the right side of the page
• In the calendar, click the name of the instrument of interest. You will then be re-directed to the calendar of the selected instrument.
• Request for your desired time slot by clicking, holding, dragging and letting go of the left-click button of the mouse.
• A request form will appear. Please complete the form entirely, so that the flow core can make approval decisions accordingly.

Sort request approval process:

Upon approval of your request, you will receive an automated email informing you of your confirmed time and date of your sort experiment.

If your sort request is not approved, a flow core staff will contact you by email with further instructions. 
 

Cell Sorters
Your data (.fcs files) from your sort experiments are transferred to our network drive, which is a temporary storage location.  It is mandatory that you transfer your data from the network drive to your own storage location(s).  Data on our network drive will be deleted 2 weeks after your scheduled experiment.

Cell Analyzers
Please ensure that you export your data to your own storage location.  Upon data transfer, please delete your data from your FACSDiva account.  Feel free to keep data from one or two previous experiments for reference, but do NOT keep more than two experiment worth of data.  Such a practice will significantly reduce the chance of software corruption or crashes.

Cell Sorters
Your booking is confirmed upon the flow core’s approval of your sort request. There are 2 situations regarding cancellation.
You can make cancellation requests one business day prior to your scheduled time. You must obtain an email confirmation from the flow core to confirm such a cancellation in order to make such a request effective. You will not be billed.

You can make cancellation requests less than one business day prior to or on the day of your scheduled sort. This is considered last-minute cancellation. You will not be billed if you can find another person to take your time slot. If not, then the flow core reserves the right to bill you for that time slot. Please email flowlab@bccrc.ca, should you cancel last minute.

Cell Analyzers
Your booking is confirmed immediately after you click “save reservation”. There are 2 situations regarding cancellation.
You can cancel your reservation without incurring any cost two hours prior to your scheduled time. You can do so on the online schedule. You will not be billed.

If you wish to cancel within 2 hours prior to your scheduled time, then this is considered last-minute cancellation. In most cases, you will be billed for this time slot, unless you can find another person to take your time slot. If not, then the flow core reserves the right to bill you for your scheduled time slot. Please email flowlab@bccrc.ca, should you cancel last minute.