Flow Cytometry

Flow cytometry allows rapid analysis, and classification of cells or other small particles. Fluorescence-activated cell sorting (FACS) enables researchers to sort live cells rapidly according to their physical characteristics or cell surface markers so that subpopulations of cells can be studied separately. These powerful techniques have broad research and clinical applications. Research fields such as immunophenotyping, cell cycle, apoptosis, cell signaling, and cell sorting/isolation are well established areas of application of these techniques. New applications of flow cytometry are still being developed constantly.

The Flow Cytometry Core Laboratory is located in the Basic Sciences Building and is equipped with a Beckman Coulter MoFlo XDP high-speed flow cytometer/sorter equipped with three laser light sources for simultaneous excitation in the UV, blue and red. The system can acquire two light scatter parameters (forward and right angle) and eleven fluorescence measurements from violet (405 nm) to near infrared (785 nm). The instrument is equipped with four way sorting and the ability to sort single cells into multiwell plates under sterile conditions. Also available in the laboratory is a Becton Dickinson FACScan flow cytometer for three-color analysis.

The laboratory is also equipped with a CompuCyte four laser (violet, blue, yellow and red) iCys scanning cytometer for four color analysis of fluorescent stained cells on slides and ratios of the various parameters. The instrument operates at a rate up to a hundred cells per second and has the capacity to revisit cells, record cell images, measure live and fixed cells on the slide and create a photomontage of selected cells. Potential applications of scanning cytometry include the measurement of apoptosis, cell cycle progression, DNA damage, senescence, cell viability, and protein translocation within cells.

Computerized flow cytometry data acquisition and analysis systems coupled with most up-to-date software packages (FlowJo, Kaluza, and Multicycle) are available in the laboratory.

Services

The laboratory provides high quality comprehensive services on:

• flow cytometry
• FACS
• scanning cytometry analyses

These include project consultation, sample preparation, sample analysis, and data analysis.

The laboratory can also help investigators to explore potential new applications that may be of special value in their research projects. Investigators considering flow cytometry service should contact the laboratory for free consultations. Several hundred of specific protocols describing applications of cytometry for particular research projects, published in the Current Protocols in Cytometry, are also available to the users of the core laboratory to plan their experiments.

Pricing

All services are billed for a minimum of one hour. After the initial hour, users are charged in half-hour increments. Non-NYMC users are charged 50% more for all services.

We provide experimental design consultation for free.

Data Analysis

Contacts

Dazhong Xu, Ph.D.
Head, Flow Cytometry Core Laboratory
(914) 594-3793
dazhong_xu@nymc.edu

MoFlo flow cytometer/sorter contact

Jiangwei Li, Ph.D.
(914) 594-3780
jiangwei_li@nymc.edu

iCys scanning cytometer contact

Hong Zhao, Ph.D.
(914) 594-3787
hong_zhao@nymc.edu

FACScan flow cytometer contact

Dorota Halicka, Ph.D.
(914) 594-3786
dorota_halicka@nymc.edu