Instruments

The facility is currently equipped with the following instrumentation:

Flow Cytometers

BD Biosciences FACSymphony A3 Analyzer w/ HTS

  • State of the art five-laser fixed alignment benchtop flow cytometer.
  • 355, 405, 488, 561, & 637nm lasers excitation sources.
  • Capable of up to 23-color acquisition utilizing fiber optic technology.
  • Low-noise VPX electronics for improved fluorescence detection sensitivity.
  • Equipped with high-throughput 96 & 384-well automated microsampler.
  • Available by appointment with core staff and to trained users 24/7.

BD Biosciences LSRII Multi-Laser Analyzer w/ HTS

  • Five-laser fixed alignment benchtop system.
  • 355, 405, 488, 561, & 640nm lasers for excitation.
  • Capable of up to 14-color acquisition.
  • Equipped with high-throughput 96 & 384-well plate automated microsampler.
  • Available by appointment with core staff and to trained users 24/7.

Cell Sorters

BD Biosciences FACSAria Fusion
Custom built five-laser, fixed alignment FACS cell sorter

  • 355, 405, 488, 561 and 637nm laser excitation sources.
  • Capable of 20-parameter (17-color, 3-scatter) acquisition.
  • Four nozzle sizes available (70, 85, 100 & 130 micron) to support sorting of a wider range of cell types and sizes.
  • Temperature controlled sorting into tubes or plates.
  • Index Sorting which allows post-sort results to be precisely tracked back to the phenotypic characteristics of a single cell within each well of the plate.
  • Baker Class II biosafety cabinet for safer, sterile sorting of BSL1 & BSL2 level materials.
  • Available by appointment with core facility staff.

Sony Biotechnology MA-900
Four-laser, fixed alignment benchtop FACS cell sorter

  • 405, 488, 561 and 638nm laser excitation sources.
  • Capable of 14-parameter (12-color, 2-scatter) detection.
  • Automated setup:  has automated startup, sorting chip to laser alignment and drop delay calculation.
  • Automated operation monitoring:  has droplet breakoff and sample volume monitoring for walk-away sorting.
  • Automated fluidics monitoring.
  • Housed in a Baker Class II biosafety cabinet for safer, sterile sorting of BSL1 & BSL2 level materials.
  • Temperature control of the sort and sample chambers.
  • Available by appointment with core facility staff and to trained users 24/7.

Bio-Rad Laboratories S3e Cell Sorter
Dual laser (488 & 561nm) benchtop cell sorter.

  • Capable of 6 parameter (4-color, 2-scatter) detection.
  • Automated setup: has automated startup, stream-to-laser alignment and drop delay calculation.
  • Automated operation monitoring: has droplet breakoff , sample volume, and sort collection tube volume monitoring for walk-away sorting.
  • Automated fluidics monitoring: all reservoirs are self-monitoring and display the amount of time before a swap is required.
  • Fluids may be live-swapped during a sort.
  • Temperature control of the sort and sample tube holders.
  • Available by appointment with core facility staff and to trained users 24/7.

COPAS BioSort Worm Sorter

  • Large particle cytometer for analyzing, sorting and dispensing cells and organisms 40-175µm in size.
  • 488nm laser excitation line with five parameter (3-color) acquisition.
  • Updated with a new laser and optics in April 2018.
  • ReFlx system for sampling directly from 96-well plates.
  • Profiler II option that allows for the spatial mapping of fluorescence signals along the length of the organism.
  • Available by appointment with core facility staff and to trained users 24/7.

Particle and Cell Counters

Beckman Coulter Z2 Particle Counter

  • 100µm aperture for particle sizing and counting via Coulter Principle (Electrical Sensing Zone Method).
  • Useful for yeast and mammalian cell counts.
  • Reports count, concentration, and size distribution results.
  • Equipped with AccuComp software for improved data analysis and presentation.
  • Available to trained users 24/7.

Bio-Rad TC-20 Cell Counter

  • Slide-based automated instrument.
  • Used for cells 6-50 um in diameter.
  • Counts cells per mL of suspension.
  • Can count single or mixed population samples.
  • Generates a histogram of cell size.
  • Can export digital images.
  • Quantifies % dead cells using Trypan blue.
  • Available to trained users 24/7.

Centrifuge

Cytospin

  • Thin-layer cell preparation system.
  • Uses centrifugation to deposit cells onto a clearly defined area of a glass slide.
  • Can process up to 12 specimens at one time.
  •  Available to trained users 24/7.

Analytical Software

Site license use of data analysis software platforms from researchers’ personal computers is now available to all Princeton clients. Contact core facility staff for access.

  • FCS Express
  • FlowJo