New High-Speed Cell Sorter Available in Flow Cytometry Facility

A new Becton Dickinson FACSAria Fusion three-laser, eleven-color, high-speed cell sorter was recently installed in the Flow Cytometry Facility. Purchased with funds from aNIH Shared Instrumentation grant, the new $440,000 instrument is housed inside a custom-designed Baker Company Class II Type A2 biosafety cabinet.

Justin Fishbaugh, Flow Cytometry Facility Technical Director, with the
new Becton Dickinson FACSAria Fusion Cell Sorter

The biosafety cabinet combined with optional aerosol management system provides a high level of operator safety allowing potentially biohazardous samples to be sorted such as those from virally transformed cell lines and primary human tissue from patients. The FACSAria Fusion is capable of physically separating four cell subpopulations simultaneously into Eppondorf, 12x75 test tubes, or 15ml centrifuge tubes at flow rates up to 22,000 cells per second. The new cell sorter is also equipped with a cloning device that allows single-cell deposition into 96 or 384-well culture plates. Featuring 100mW 405nm, 488nm, and 639nm lasers, the FACSAria Fusion can detect up to eleven fluorochromes at the same time including simultaneous detection of four of the new Brilliant Violet dyes with high sensitivity. The instrument is fully functional and can be reserved for sorting through the Flow Cytometry Facility’s online reservation system.