Equipment
All of the Facility’s flow cytometers have high-end technical specifications to facilitate the wide range of research applications carried out in the MRC WIMM including, amongst many other applications, phenotyping to study changes in cell types following disease or vaccination and measurement of markers that are involved in haematopoiesis.
In this page you will find an overview of the equipment in our Facility. More detailed information can be found here and in our intranet (internal).
Attune NxT Analysers
The Facility has three Attune NxT Analysers equipped with 4 lasers (405, 488, 561, 640nm) and autosamplers for rapid cell acquisition directly from 96 or 384 well plates. The Attune NxT has unique built in acoustic focussing technology that allows superior data resolution at high sample flow rates, this is ideal for rare cell analysis.
LSR Fortessa, LSR Fortessa X20
The Fortessa and one X20 analyser are fitted with 4 lasers (405, 488, 561, 640nm). Each instrument can be used with a high-throughput sampler to automate sampling directly from 96 well plates. These analysers are highly sensitive and capable of assaying up to 16 colours. We also have a 5 laser X20 (355, 405, 488, 561, 640nm) which can analyse up to 18 colours.
Symphony A5 (Fortessa X50)
The X50 is fitted with 5 lasers (355, 405, 488, 532 or 561, 640nm) to offer the widest possible choice of fluorochrome selection. This instrument can be used with a high-throughput sampler to automate sampling directly from 96 well plates. The X50 is configured to measure up to 30 colours + FSC & SSC so it is the perfect choice for developing high-content panels.
Aria III, Aria Fusion & FACS Discover S8 cell sorters
The AriaIII and two Fusion sorters have 4 lasers (405, 488, 561 and 640nm) and can assay 15-16 colours making them suitable for complex reagent panels. The S8 is a 5 laser (349, 405, 488, 561 and 637nm), sorter with spectral technology and imaging. All the instruments have automatic cell deposition devices for sorting into plates and are installed inside biosafety cabinets for enhanced operator protection.
Sony MA900
The Sony MA900 is a fully automated cell sorter and is extremely easy to operate. It has 4 lasers and can assay up to 12 colours simultaneously. It has excellent ability to sort single cells into 96 and 384 well plates. Users may self-operate this instrument after a short training session.