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At IMB, we explore the molecular biology of the nucleus with an overarching focus on gene regulation, epigenetics & genome stability

Flow Cytometry Core Facility

Overview  Head of the Core Facility  Core Facility Members  Publications 

The Flow Cytometry Core Facility offers expert guidance and dedicated support for precise cell sorting and analysis, ensuring reliable results.

At the Flow Cytometry Core Facility, we provide comprehensive flow cytometry services to support the needs of all scientists at IMB, Mainz University and its Medical Center and other public research institutions. We support your research by offering access to state-of-the-art flow cytometry instruments and expert guidance.

The facility is equipped with five instruments, capable of sorting and analysing particles anywhere from 0.2 μm to 1 mm in diameter. This covers subcellular particles such as autophagosomes, lipid droplets and cell nuclei to whole cells from yeast, mammals, zebrafish and Drosophila, up to Arabidopsis seeds and entire organisms such as C. elegans.

Info video of IMB's Cytometry Core Facility

Full services:

  • Cell sorting for your samples
  • Comprehensive training for independent use of analysers
  • Assisting initial setup of new experiments

Self services:

  • Analytical flow cytometers: independent operation and booking (after training)
  • Data analysis workstation: independent operation and booking (after training)

Support services:

  • Assistance with planning and designing flow cytometry experiments.
  • Support with data analysis using software such as FlowJo
  • Assistance with proofreading scientific manuscripts for publication

To use our services, please schedule an initial user meeting to discuss the outline and feasibility of your project, biosafety, scheduling of trainings, and our user guidelines. 

 

Key instruments

  • Analytical flow cytometers
    • BD LSRFortessa: 5 lasers, 20 parameters; High Throughput Sampler
    • Agilent Novocyte Quanteon: 4 lasers, 16 parameters; High Throughput Sampler
  • Cell sorting instruments
    • BD FACSAria: 4 lasers, 16 parameters
    • Invitrogen Bigfoot: 5 lasers, 53 parameters
    • Union Biometrica Biosorter: 2 lasers, 5 parameters
  • Data analysis
    • Workstation with FlowJo Software

For more information on the instrument configurations, such as laser setup, sampler plate compatibility, or sort output adapter, please refer to OpenIRIS, our booking system. Detailed configurations, including filter setups, can be found on our intranet page or provided upon request.

 

Lectures and courses

We offer extensive training sessions and lectures covering basic and advanced techniques, software usage and data interpretation. Please see upcoming courses here. Additional training for independent usage of the analytical cytometers can be scheduled on demand. 

 Flow cytometry lectures (take place annually)

  • Introduction I: Topics: Instrument components, sample preparation, data presentation
  • Introduction II: Topics: Multicolor setup and compensation, panel design, labeling techniques, correct controls and applications
  • Advanced Flow Cytometry - Principles of Cell Sorting: Topics: cell sorters and their applications, comparison Bigfoot and FACSAria cell sorters; Tips, tricks, and troubleshooting for sort experiments
  • Modern Techniques in Life Sciences (MTiLS): Topics: Basic overview of flow cytometry and its applications

Lectures are open to everyone without registration.

Flow cytometry courses

  • Basic Practical Course Flow Cytometry: 
    • Two full-day hands-on training in pairs
    • Course content: Basic assays such as live/dead cell discrimination, DNA content, apoptosis, small particle setup, multicolor surface staining including compensation. 
  • Advanced Practical Course Cell Sorting
    • One full-day hands-on training in pairs
    • Course content: Startup and shutdown of the instrument, sort setup including drop delay calibration for different nozzle diameters, test of different sorting modes, sorting into tubes and plates, and reanalysis of sorted populations.
The Flow Cytometry Core Facility team

Acknowledgements/ Co-authorships

“An acknowledgement of the Core Facilities in your publication is important and more than just a nice way to say thank you. Your acknowledgement matters!”

Acknowledgements are the currency by which Core Facilities are measured: they help us prove our value and our contribution to research results.  Acknowledging Core Facilities shows that we are important partners in the scientific community, and it allows us to maintain funding and make further investment in the Core Facilities. In the case that Core Facility staff members have contributed significantly to your research project, we ask that you treat them the same way you would treat any other collaborator and consider a co-authorship. 

Specific examples of how to properly acknowledge our Core Facilities can be viewed on our Intranet. In accordance with DFG recommendations, we furthermore ask that you acknowledge any instrumentation that is funded through a DFG major instrumentation grant by including the corresponding project number. 

Communities

  • We are members of ISAC

  • Stefanie Möckel is part of the German Cytometry Core Manager Committee (CoMaCo), which discusses relevant topics for flow cytometry core facilities that are featured at the German Society for Cytometry (DGfZ) meeting. CoMaCo also organizes the German FlowCore Summit.

  • The Facility manages the Mainz Flow Cytometry Operator Network. Get in touch if you want to join the local mailing list.