What to know: The UWCCC Flow Cytometry Laboratory provides instrumentation, education, and support for single cell fluorescence assays and isolation.
Why it matters: The field of flow cytometry is rapidly expanding both in terms of the number of targets per cell and capabilities with the addition of combined fluorescence imaging and traditional/spectral cytometry. We focus on ensuring researchers are prepared to utilize these new techniques and instrumentation in their research.
What’s new: Recent efforts are focused on rigor and reproducibility in flow, spectral, and image cytometry. There are a lot of processes, reagents, controls and instrument considerations that go into creating a rigorous and reproducible assay. Our goal is to ensure that researchers are definitively answering their research question as well as building a strong foundation for themselves and their field to build upon.
We replaced one of our aging BD FACSAriaII cell sorters with a BD FACSDiscover S8 Cell Sorter with 78 spectral channels and 6 imaging channels through an award from the UW’s Research Core Revitalization Program. This instrument is allowing us to see and sort cells like never before with its spectral and imaging capabilities.
Staff attended the CYTO in June 2025 and participated as instructors at the 48th Annual Course in Cytometry in July 2025 and brought knowledge of current technologies and protocols back to researchers at UW.
Looking ahead: We are excited about leveraging new imaging parameters on the S8 and autofluorescence in general to better characterize and identify cells, their subpopulations, and cell states. As researchers utilize many techniques in their quest to answer their research questions, cores are critically important as centers of knowledge staffed with experts to support specific techniques and pieces of those answers.