Acquisition of 16-color cell sorter BD FACSAria Fusion (R-11073)

The Biomedical Research Institute (UHasselt) has a longstanding expertise in immunology research, specifically in autoimmune diseases. One of our core specialties is flow cytometry, including fluorescent-activated cell sorting (FACS). At the moment, our flow cytometry unit consists of two acquisition devices: a BD FACSCalibur (1 laser, 3 fluorescent parameters) and a BD LSRFortessa (4 lasers, 16 fluorescent parameters); and one sorting device: a BD FACSAria II (2 lasers, 7 fluorescent parameters). It is of pivotal importance to keep the flow cytometry unit up to date with current standards and to upgrade the cell sorter to a state-of-the-art device. The recent acquisition of the BD LSRFortessa (in 2016), together with the group of prof. dr. Kleinewietfeld, has played a large role in the growth of our flow cytometry unit. To accommodate the increasing demand of our own researchers as well as collaborators to not only characterize rare cell populations, but also isolate these cells for further downstream applications, our unit is in need of an upgrade. Acquisition of the BD FACSAria Fusion (4 lasers, 16 fluorescent parameters) is required to meet this demand and is expected to significantly strengthen and increase both academic and public private partnerships.

Keywords:research infrastructure

Disciplines:Immunology not elsewhere classified