Flow Cytometry Home
1-on-1 FlowJo Training Slots
We will have a FlowJo specialist from Treestar out on 1/14/10 and 1/15/10 to assist any FlowJo users with problems/questions regarding flow cytometry analysis. We have set up a resource on the Flow Facility's online instrument scheduler called FlowJo Training. The resource can be found under the Training Courses calendar. A read-only version of the calendar can be found here, but to reserve your slot, you'll need to log in with your username/password. This is a great opportunity for both new users of the software who may need a little personalized help getting started as well as seasoned veterans looking to delve deeper into the vast capabilities of FlowJo. You may reserve the 30 minutes slots (1 hour max) anytime up until 1/14/10. The actual training will take place in the facility's Data Analysis room in Kovler Room 038. Please include in the summary field of th (click on title for more...)
Submitted: 5 January 2010, 9:34 am
Plant Sample Prep for Nuclei Analysis
We don't have too many Botanists coming through the flow lab doors, but occasionally they'll bring in some electric green looking slurry of stuff and want to analyze DNA content or Mitochondrial Membrane Potential. It's really no different setting these samples up on the instrument than any other animal/human sample. But, when they start to ask me questions on how to optimize their sample prep, I'm of little help. From what I understand, the process is much like dissociating any tissue. You use some mechanical (slicing and dicing with a razor) and enzymatic processes to try and isolate the cells from the leaves. Beyond that basic understanding of what's going on, I have little to offer, which is why I appreciate this troubleshooting guide so much. A fella by the name of Paul Kron, from the Department of Integrative Biology at the University of Guelph (Guelph, Ontario, Canada) sent me his top 10 troubleshooting tips for achieving good quality histograms when analyzing DNA content (click on title for more...)
Submitted: 13 November 2009, 9:12 am
Do you Kaluza?
Seems like there's quite a bit of news coming out of Miami these past few months, and that is a good thing. Beckman Coulter (coulterflow.com) has released it's offline analysis tool, Kaluza, whose major feature seems to be speed. I've been playing around with Kaluza for about a month now and so I can share a few thoughts. You're probably well aware of the fact that we at the University of Chicago are a FlowJo shop. Nearly all of our users analyze with FlowJo (others use acquisition programs like CellQuest or FACSDiVa to do analysis). We've looked into other packages in the past (namely FCS Express and VenturiOne) but none were as exhaustive in capabilities as FlowJo, so we felt we were getting the most bang for buck in that case. What this basically me (click on title for more...)
Submitted: 9 November 2009, 6:53 am
The Flow Cytometry Facility at the University of Chicago provides instrumentation, education, and expertise for the University's Faculty. The mission of the facility is three-fold:
- Equip the facility with cutting-edge technology and expertise
- Pursue technology and application development
- Provide instrument and applcation training and education
We encourage you to explore our services outlined in this web site.
