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Staff-Assisted Acquisition & Sorting

Staff-Assisted Acquisition
Staff-Assisted Sorting
Request Service

Expectations for Staff-Assisted Workflow:

  • Staff check submissions daily, however, availability depends on instrument AND staff time. Notice of 1 week is preferred; however, times/dates are not guaranteed. Staff do their best to meet your preferred time and date.
  • Responses are expected within 48 hours (about 2 days). Instruments are used by independent users and staff, ALL TIMES GIVEN ARE TENTATIVE until the appointment is confirmed in iLabs.
  • If any changes occur between form submission and the appointment, make sure to update the form AND email staff so any adjustments can be made if necessary.
  • Required reading for Staff-Assisted Sorting: Sorting Guides: Practical Cell Sorting and the Flow Facility Sorting SOP.

Staff-Assisted Acquisition

The UNC Flow Core offers acquisition services for researcher prepared samples on all of our flow analyzers. Staff is happy to consult on panel and experimental design to ensure successful data acquisition.

Staff-Assisted Flow data acquisition requests can be made through the UNC Flow Cytometry Core iLabs website by following the following steps:

  1. Initiate an Acquisition Request. Fill the form thoroughly, accurately, and completely.
  2. Staff will reach out once the form is submitted to confirm a time and date.
  3. Arrive at the Flow Core at the agreed upon time.
  4. For new projects staff will ask you to confirm instrument settings at the start of the acquisition.
  5. Following data acquisition staff will upload data to OneDrive and send you a link to the folder via email. This link will also be available via the iLabs request once the request is completed.

If you plan to have on-going experiments that will utilize staff-assisted acquisition we recommend requesting a free consultation with the UNC Flow Core Staff to discuss best-practices for sample preparation, and to develop a plan for data management.

The UNC Flow Cytometry core does not currently offer sample preparation services.  If you have interest in collaborating with the UNC Flow Cytometry Core on a project and would like support in sample preparation or data analysis please contact Ramiro Diz.

Staff-Assisted Sorting

The UNC Flow Core Staff runs our BSL2+ sorters. For safety reasons BSL2 and BSL2+ samples can only be run by staff on the UNC Flow Core’s dedicated BSL2+ sorters. The UNC Flow Core sorters can accommodate a range of particles including, but not limited to: lymphocytes, tumor digests, cell lines, bacteria, yeast, tissue digests, virus-infected cells, and beads. Our sorters can simultaneously sort up to 4 (Aria II) or 6 (Symphony S6) populations of cells. Cells can be collected as bulk cell populations, or single cells. We have the capability to sort BSL1 thru BSL2+ samples, but we do not currently have the capability to sort BSL3 and above items. Our sorters use nozzles ranging from 70-100 um.

Staff-Assisted Sorting requests can be made through the UNC Flow Cytometry Core iLabs website by following the following steps:

  1. Initiate Sorting Request. Fill form thoroughly, accurately, and completely.
  2. Staff will reach out once the form is submitted to confirm a time/date.
  3. Arrive at the appointment with the samples prepared as described in the Flow Facility Sorting SOP.
  4. Staff will upload data to OneDrive and send you a link to the folder via email. This link will also be available via the iLabs request once the request is completed.

If you have any questions regarding the Sorting Request Form or the best way to design your sorting experiment please reach out to the UNC Core Staff.