Instrumentation

FACSAria

Description

Based on the LSR optical cable technology and advanced optical arrays the Aria is a 20 parameter cell sorter (see table below). This high-speed sorter can sort cells in four directions at a rates up to 25,000 cells per second at > 98% purity with a digital acquisition speed of 70,000 events/second. The FACSAria is equipped with an aerosol containment system and is located in the BSL-3 facility. For this reason this instrument is dedicated to infectious cell sorting. Through "Sweet-Spot" technology this instrument can detect a clogged nozzle or rapid changes in stream positioning. Once detected the sort stream is automatically shutdown, stopping increased aerosol production and protecting the sorted samples from contamination. This allows for operator intervention before sample sorting can proceed. Different from the FACSDiVa sorter, all pneumatics and sort controls are monitored through a digital display allowing pre-set sort profiles to be saved for future experiments.

Since this instrument is dedicated to infectious cell sorting, measurement of the containment prior to infectious cell sorting is paramount. (To see a video of aerosol formation select this link http://videocast.nih.gov/ram/aerosol.ram.) These procedures are referenced and are located in the general procedure section (Bio-Containment and Infectious Cell Sorting) also see appropriate references for further detail (FCC References). Many procedures involve sorting live cells which need to be kept in a sterile environment, for this reason we have modified our daily start-up and shut-down procedures to keep the instrument in sterile mode at all times. This procedure is called decontamination. (Decontamination Procedure)."

Aria Detector Configuration

FACS Aria Optical Configuration

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