This instrument was purchased by the Department of Microbiology/Immunology in 1996. The department took care of this flow cytometer until early 2003, when the instrument was transferred to the RRC. Due to its user-friendly BD CellQuest software, data acquisition is unassisted by all users of the instrument. The instrument is available 24 hrs/day, but one must sign a logbook to reserve acquisition time. Full service data acquisition on this machine is performed only if necessary. Investigators that are unfamiliar with this instrument will be taught on the BD LSR which is very similar to the FACSCalibur.

Excitation Source:

15mW air cooled Argon Ion Laser at 488nm: Used to excite Fluoroscein (FITC), Phycoerythrin (PE), PE-Cy5 (Cychrome/Tricolor), Red 670, Rhodamine 123, Propidium Iodide (PI), Acridine Orange, and other compounds.

You can not acquire more than 3 colors on this instrument. PE-Texas-Red (ECD/Red 610) can not be analyzed. In addition, there is limited compensation (you can not compensate every color on every other color like you can on the BD LSR).

Helpful suggestions:

If cells are to be analyzed on this instrument, it is best that the concentration of cells/particles be around one/five million cells per milliliter. It is recommended that the cells be put in Falcon 352052 12 x 75 mm round bottom polystyrene tubes with a minimum volume of 500 microliters. Many 12 x 75 mm tubes will not work on this instrument, so if you are not sure of your tubes, test them out before setting up your experiment.