FACS

We asked core facilities staff and research scientists from the U.S. and Europe for their top tips for securing funding for large instrumentation, such as a cell analyzer or cell sorter. Here are the key questions you should consider while preparing your grant application to increase your chances of a successful outcome.

Genetic screens are powerful tools for finding genes associated with a particular phenotype. They play an especially important role in cancer research and are leveraged to identify predictive biomarkers that can be used to improve treatment efficacy or trace the progression of genetic alterations that ultimately lead to disease. The HAP1 cancer cell line model and fluorescence-activated cell sorting (FACS) bring efficiency to the development of genetic screens that is making them a force to be reckoned with.

Presented here are some tips to help you avoid buyer’s remorse and make an educated decision about which instrument to purchase. These tips provide you with the tools to make an informed decision when purchasing a cell sorter.

Fluorescence-activated cell sorting is a valuable tool for research, but could the physical forces of sorting stress the cells, altering their behavior and confounding experimental results? Recent research found that although cell sorting activated p38 MAPK stress signaling, no functional or structural changes were observable. The results indicate that jet-in-air systems such as the Bio-Rad S3e Cell Sorter do not alter cell behavior.

Incorporating fluorescence-based cell sorting into your lab grants you powerful access to new research areas and rarer cell types without sacrificing efficiency or results. New, powerful techniques like CRISPR and single-cell analysis are enhanced by the isolation of specific cells. But isolating cell populations of the right quality and quantity is both challenging and time consuming. We offer some tips to set yourself up for success and get the most out of your sorts.

Successful chimeric antigen receptor- (CAR-) T cell therapy requires a target antigen that is unique to cancer cells. But what happens when there are no unique antigens? Researchers at Columbia University Medical Center addressed this problem by replacing healthy non-target cells with genetically modified versions lacking the CAR-T cell target. Their results, published in PNAS, may provide a new avenue for treatment of some types of cancer.