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Flow cytometry & cell sorting

About

Part of the Bioimaging group, the flow cytometry facility at The Pirbright Institute provides researchers with state-of-the-art instrumentation and cell sorting services in low and high containment environments.  We specialise in sample preparation, acquisition, sorting and analysis of biological samples from farm animals.

We have 5 self-use flow analysers on site which can cater for a variety of needs, from single colour analysis up to 17 colour analysis.

For cell sorting, the institute is equipped with a BD FACSAria U3, located within the low containment building, and a BD FACSAria Fusion, in the high containment building.  Both sorters can isolate cells based on up to 17 fluorescent parameters and light scattering properties. We can sort up to 4 populations simultaneously into tubes. Sorting can also be onto plates or slides. We also have two Miltenyi AutoMACS magnetic sorters.

We offer one-to-one training sessions and refresher courses on all our flow analysers and are available to help you throughout your experiments from planning to data analysis.  We also provide a cell sorting service.

Specialist equipment

Jenner Facility

Instruments

  • BD FACSAria U3 405, 488, 561 and 640nm lasers and 18 detectors.
  • BD LSR Fortessa. 405, 488, 561 and 640nm lasers and 18 detectors.
  • MACSQuant 10 405, 488 and 633nm lasers and 10 detectors.
  • BD Accuri C6 488 and 633 lasers and 6 detectors.
  • Miltenyi AutoMACS Pro. High speed magnetic sorting.
     

Plowright Facility

Instruments

  • BD FACSAria Fusion 405, 488, 561 and 640nm lasers and 19 detectors. Situated in a MBSCII. Work up to and including CL2/SAPO4 subject to risk assessment.
  • BD LSR Fortessa. 405, 488, 561 and 640nm lasers and 19 detectors.
  • MACSQuant 10 405, 488 and 633nm lasers and 10 detectors. In both Jenner and Plowright buildings.
  • AutoMACS. For high speed magnetic cell sorting situated in the CL3 suite in the Plowright building.
     

Software

  • FACSDIVA8: operates the BD Fortessas and able to analyse samples.
  • FLOWJO 10 for data analysis. 
  • FCS Express 6 for data analysis. 
  • MACSQuantify operates the MACSQuant and stand-alone copy in Jenner building flow room.
  • BD Accuri C6 software operates the Accuri analyser
  • Imaris image analysis software
  • Huygens software (deconvolution, visualisation and analysis)
  • IMOD
  • SeriaEM
     

Services offered

 
We offer one-to-one training sessions and refresher courses on all our flow analysers.

We also provide a cell sorting service.

Booking the facility (tours or training)


Please contact Dr Katy Moffat directly for further information. 

Gallery

Some of the instruments available within the flow cytometry and cell sorting facility:

Cytometry_001
BD Biosciences FACSAria cell sorter
Cytometry_002
Miltenyi Biotec MACSQuant flow cytometer
Cytometry_003
BD Biosciences Accuri C6 flow cytometer
Cytometry_004
BD Biosciences FACSAria Fusion cell sorter

The team

Dr Katy Moffat, Postdoctoral Scientist, Flow cytometry & cell sorting.

Contact

For further information please contact Dr Katy Moffat:
Bioimaging
The Pirbright Institute
Ash Road
Pirbright
GU24 0NF

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