Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center Flow Cytometry Core Facility

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Mission

The Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center - Flow Cytometry Core Facility (Lurie Flow Core) was established in 1992 to serve the Flow Cytometry and related needs of the Cancer Center, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine (FSM), Northwestern University and all other affiliated institutions. A satellite facility was also established in late 2010 to better serve a strong investigator base on the Evanston campus. Starting September 2024, this satellite facility is managed and operated by the Single Cell Genomics Facility (Evanston), in collaboration with the Lurie Flow Core Facility.

The aim of the Lurie Flow Core is to provide state-of-the-art flow cytometry instrumentation and expertise for enhanced scientific interaction and productivity within Northwestern’s research community. Additional services provided by the facility personnel extend to consultation, technical assistance on experimental design, high-parameter panel design and validation, sample preparation, data acquisition/analysis, and educational lectures. These services span the spectrum from routine flow cytometry assays from basic to complex high-parameter immunophenotyping (up to 52 colors), and associated cell sorting with/without sort capable-imaging for numerous downstream metabolomic, transcriptomic, and/or proteomic analyses, based on conventional and spectral flow cytometry. The core currently houses 3 state-of-the-art Discover S8 spectral based cell sorters with sort-capable imaging, 4 high-end cell sorters including a 5-laser 50-parameter Symphony S6, and 1 mid-level cell sorters from BD and a microfluidics based cell sorter from Miltenyi. It additionally houses 5 high-end cell analyzers from BD including the latest Discover A8 spectral based imaging analyzer, 2 spectral based analyzers and 2 conventional analyzers. The Flow core has operated 24/7 for the past nine years allowing users to perform cell sorting and flow cytometric analyses at times consistent with the needs of their experiment.

Services Offered

The Lurie Flow Core is unique in the fact that it offers investigators the entire spectrum of cytometric experiment management, which involves anything from initial consultation on experimental design to the creation of graphics for publication. Research programs involving flow cytometry encompass individuals with a broad spectrum of training in basic and clinical sciences. The goal is to make available virtually any flow cytometry based assay regardless of the individual laboratories level of cytometry experience and expertise through the facility’s offerings and active, direct involvement in an investigator’s project. The core has three central functions. The main function is to provide support to help run current routine flow cytometric assays as well as to establish new protocols. Further, the staff will help acquire all samples on cell sorters or analyzers and help analyze the data. The staff is also involved in training individual investigators to acquire and analyze the data by themselves.

• Fluorescence Activated Cell Sorting (FACS): Cell sorting is integral for purification of bulk populations that can be further analyzed by a variety of techniques including genomics, proteomics, metabolomics, transcriptional profiling, epigenetics or for adoptive transfer studies. All our conventional cell sorters are capable of single cell ‘index sorting’ that is required for single-cell RNA-seq studies from 8-16 color panels. The three new 5-laser 86-parameter Discover S8 cell sorters with BD CellView technology and BD SpectralFX technology, are the first of its kind, capable of simultaneous sort capable imagining and sorting from high-parameter (15-48 color panels) based on the principles of spectral flow cytometry. The imaging feature helps to quantify spatial features and to differentiate cells in a variety of use cases, which so far can only be distinguished using microscopy.
• Analytical Flow Cytometry (cell analysis): The core provides 3 conventional and 2 spectral cell analyzers for all kinds of flow cytometry based phenotyping from conventional <15 color panels to up to 48 color spectral panels. The core also recently added the BD FACSDiscover A8 imaging based spectral analyzer, which complements the three FACSDiscover S8 imaging based cell sorters. The imaging based spectral instruments allow expansion of high parameter panels to up to 50-colors and simultaneously image for certain fluorescence.
• Other Specialized Services including Consultation and Trainings: The core staff provides a full service that includes designing and validating new panels including high-parameter panels, specialized assays, sample preparation, acquisition/sorting and data analysis (which has been particularly more helpful to clinically-orientated investigators by allowing expansion of their laboratory-based studies). The staff also conducts comprehensive one-on-one training sessions for individuals to utilize any the core instruments acquire and/or sort samples by themselves. This allows users 24x7 access and flexibility to accommodate last minute and time-sensitive specimen alike.