We are now the proud owners of a LSRFortessa from BD - a three laser, 11 colour system that should ensure we are ready for almost any assay our users will want to perform. Once we have our official training with BD, hopefully in the next couple of weeks, we will roll the instrument out and bid farewell to our 12 year 'old faithful' Calibur. This purchase was funded by the Yorkshire Cancer Research.
BD Fortessa with its doors open showing the detectors associated with up to 4 laser lines. We could add a UV or green laser at a later date if demand requires it. Image from http://www.genengnews.com/new-products/company/bd-biosciences/87
And, we had the FACSAria cell sorter upgraded to a Aria II system with the addition of a third violet laser, two extra detectors and new fluidics, sort chamber and nice shiny new tanks!! Its quite the sight! Once BD sort out a slight pressure regulation problem it'll be just the ticket. Its up and running at the moment and sorts have been successfully achieved. The addition of the violet laser allows us to sort cyan FP's, perform FRET analysis and analyse/ sort QDots. And it seems dead easy to use. And keep clean :-D
It was quite a job though with the entire guts ripped out and replaced with the new stuff. It was a bit distressing seeing it in this state for a week or so -
Fluidics - out!
Sort chamber - out!
As both systems are now pretty much compatable they should be ideal for supporting each other in people's research should we experience any tech issues with one or the other.
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