Flow Cytometry is a high-throughput technique that is used to rapidly analyze single cells or particles in suspension that has numerous applications including disease diagnosis, monitoring treatment responses, and studying various biological processes. Flow cytometry is particularly valuable in the fields of immunology, hematology, and infectious disease research. Newer flow cytometers such as our ZE5 (TM) Cell Analyzer with optimized features for small particle analysis also enable high-throughput analyses of bacteria, viruses, and extracellular vesicles, with applications in microbiology, virology, and cell biology.

Instrumentation

Detailed laser/detector configurations for each cytometer may be found at https://fluorofinder.com/.  Select "Montana State University."

ZE5™ Cell Analyzer

Please acknowledge the following award when publishing any data generated with the BioRad ZE5 Cell Analyzer: USDA 2023-70410-41180.

The new ZE5 is equipped with five lasers and filters to analyze up to 27 colors, plus forward and side scatter. The ZE5™ has a fully integrated, automated sample loader, compatible with all standard tubes and culture plates; has a specialized small particle (20 nm to 1 µm) analyzer for microbiology, virology and exosome research.

BD FACS Aria II cell sorter

TheFACS Aria is a high-end 8- to10-parameter flow cytometer with high-speed cell sorting capability.  TheAria is currently equipped withthree lasers,488 nm, 561nm and 633nm, and can analyze up to 9 parameters.The FACS Aria is contained within a biosafety cabinet allowing for sorting of BSL-2 level-infected or primary human samples. 

BD LSR Fortessa

The Fortessa represents a high dimensional analyzer, capable of analyzing 18 colors plus forward and side scatter, for a total of 20 parameters. It is equipped with a 640 nm laser (with detectors for 670, 780 and 790 nm), a 561 nm laser (with detectors for 582, 660, 780, 610 and 710 nm), a 488 nm laser (with detectors for 695 and 590 nm, FSC and SSC), a 405 nm laser (with detectors for 670, 525, 710, 610 and 450 nm) and a 355 nm UV laser (with detectors for 450 and 525 nm). Each excitation source is supported by polygon detector arrays, and each polygon can support up to eight detectors for maximum flexibility in optical configuration. The BD Fortessa is located in the Cooley building and provides high-dimensional FACS capacity to research groups on campus.

Stratedigm SE520EON

Please cite the following funding source in any meeting, abstract, poster, talk and publication if the Stratedigm Cytometer was used to generate data: Montana NIH INBRE P20GM103474.

The SE520EON is a 2-laser (488 nm with 530, 580, 676 and 780 nm detectors and 640 nm with 676 and 780 nm detectors), 6-color fixed configuration system.

ImageStream imaging cytometer

Imaging cytometry (ImageStream) combines features of flow cytometry and high-resolution light and fluorescent microscopy analysis of cell suspensions to capture images for each event passing through the detector in a flow stream.  The ImageStream ISX Mach II imaging cytometeris equipped with three lasers (488/642/785 nm) to record six image channels per object (bright field, dark field and 5 fluorescence channels), a multiple magnification option (20x, 40x and 60x) to image both eukaryotic cells and bacteria.

BioRad