Core Services
To discuss any of our core services, please contact us.
Panel design
Designing your panel
Wether it's 1 colour or 26, flow cytometry panels require a great deal of planning. Here at the FCCF we have years of experience designing optimal panels specifically for our instruments. Our panel design service takes all the stress out of planning a panel. We will work to your specifications and requirements to provide you with the best possible panel for your experiment. We can then help you set the panel up on your instrument of choice and troubleshoot any issues you may have.
Sample preparation
Preparing your cells
At the FCCF we offer a sample preparation service giving you time to focus on other aspects of your work. We can process any category 1 and 2 samples according to your desired protocol. Our core has a wide range of experience in many different forms of sample preparation, from human tissue digestion through to bacterial and yeast cell preparation. The FCCF also has experience preparing samples for tightly regulated clinical trials and understands the requirement for high-quality samples.
Full analytical service
A complete service
The FCCF are pleased to offer a complete analytical service working for you to deliver high-quality data. Take advantage of the years of flow cytometry experience in all aspects of your work. The core facility will help you plan the experiment, design your panel, titrate your antibodies, set up the instrumentation, prepare your samples, generate data and assist with analysis ensuring the highest quality data is acquired.
Service step by step
- Consultation, Meet with our flow cytometry specialists to discuss your research questions and how flow cytometry can help you deliver on these questions
- Panel Design, Our specialists will help design the perfect panel for you taking into account antigen density, fluorophore brightness, and many other factors that can affect panel sensitivity giving you the best chance to detect all your populations of interest
- Panel Optimisation, Your panel will be optimised for the specific cytometer best suited to your needs. Antibodies will be titrated, quality control, compensation, and instrument PMT settings will all be optimised for your panel.
- Sample preparation, Drop your samples directly with us and we can prepare your cells according to an agreed and optimised protocol. Our staff has a wealth of experience in the preparation of liquid and solid samples from all areas of biology from plant preparation to human tissue.
- Storage for future analysis, We can prepare your samples so that they can be analysed at a later date after being cryo-stored,
- Optimise experimental workflow, We know some experiments require intervention during the acquisition process such as restimulation of cytokines or Ca flux stimulation. We will establish an efficient and accurate workflow to generate the highest quality data.
- Stain samples, We will stain, wash and prepare all samples ready for analysis.
- Acquire data, Our staff will run your samples and carefully monitor quality control to ensure all possible problems are avoided
- Produce data reports, Finally, you will be given your data along with any reports obtained from the acquisition.
Conjugation service
Custom conjugations
Our Helios mass cytometry system has increased the maximum potential panel size from 18 fluorescent tagged antibodies to 35 heavy metal isotope tagged antibodies. The potential to analyze so many simultaneous markers has increased the demand for unique antibody-metal combinations. At the FCCF we offer a conjugation service to provide high-quality metal tagged antibodies for mass cytometry. Our staff has excellent experience in producing high-quality specific antibodies tagged with your desired metal, allowing you to build a more powerful mass cytometry panel. We will also work with you to validate any conjugations that we carry out.