Department Facilities and locationsResearch platformsObjectives and services provided

Objectives and services provided - Flow cytometry platform

The FLOW CYTOMETRY PLATFORM will be established at the Department of Experimental and Clinical Medicine, with its primary headquarters located at the Immunology Laboratory within the Complesso Polivalente Cubo (Viale Pieraccini 6). The platform aims to provide the scientific community with the instrumentation, knowledge, and technical expertise acquired over decades by its affiliated staff in multiparametric flow cytometry analysis and fluorescence-activated cell sorting (FACS) of various cellular samples. The platform will be available to all researchers from the DMSC and other Departments of the University of Florence, as well as other universities and national or international research centers requiring these services for their biomedical research.

The primary applications offered by the FLOW CYTOMETRY PLATFORM regarding multiparametric flow cytometry analysis and cell sorting include:

• Immunophenotyping and evaluation of cell surface marker expression.
• Determination of absolute cell concentration in samples via Trucount analysis.
• Analysis of intracellular and nuclear molecule expression.
• Stimulation assays for cytokine production.
• Cell cycle analysis.
• Apoptosis assays.
• Cell proliferation studies using viable dyes or specific markers.
• Evaluation of calcium flux.
• Assessment of cell signaling and protein phosphorylation.
• Multiplex analysis of soluble proteins in serum and culture supernatants using CBA (Cytokine Bead Array) technology.
• Stem cell evaluation via side population analysis.
• Assessment of transfection/transduction efficiency using fluorescent reporters.
• High-purity cell sorting of viable cells from heterogeneous samples based on any of the aforementioned flow cytometry analyses.
• Bulk or single-cell sorting.
• Sterile, temperature-controlled cell sorting into tubes, plates, or onto slides.
• Analysis of a wide range of human or murine cell samples (IN SUSPENSION), both fresh and frozen, from diverse sources: cultured cells, primary lines, and cell suspensions derived from biological specimens (blood, body fluids, dissociated tissues, biopsies, etc.).

Based on research needs and the technical knowledge/expertise of the proposing researcher, the personnel of the FLOW CYTOMETRY PLATFORM will provide comprehensive technical and scientific consulting prior to the experimental phase.