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Flow cytometry facilities

Our flow cytometry facility plays a vital role in our work to better understand the fundamentals of cancer biology, from cell proliferation to cell death. It also underpins our immune profiling of tumour samples, a crucial part of our immunotherapy research.

Flow Cytometry Machine (16.9)

Within the facility, researchers can access a range of sophisticated flow cytometers that can measure up to 28 colours, and our expert team is on hand to provide help and support with experimental design and set-up.

The team is also available to collaborate on developing new techniques for pioneering research.

“Using the equipment and expertise at the ICR’s flow cytometry facility, we have been able to study the immune environment of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinomas from an immunotherapy trial. We are excited about our results and are thankful for the wonderful facility team that has supported us throughout our study.”

Dr Krisha Desai, Postdoctoral Training Fellow 
Systems and Precision Cancer Medicine Team

For further information please contact Marwa Jalal, Facility Manager (Chelsea) or Ian Titley, Facility Manager (Sutton).

Chelsea facility

Equipment available:

  • FACSAria II cell sorter: Five laser cell sorter able to sort to tubes or plates.
  • BD LSR II analyser: Four laser flow cytometer able to load samples in tubes or plates (96 and 384).
  • Sony SH-800 cell sorter: This instrument is set up for sorting Cat II and clinical samples.
  • BD FACSymphony A5: A novel flow cytometer that enables the simultaneous measurement of up to 50 different characteristics of a single cell.

Software available:

  • FACSDiva: Operates the BD Flow cytometers and able to analyse samples.
  • SH800: Operates the cell sorter from Sony.
  • FlowJo: Useful for analysing flow cytometry data.
  • FCSexpress: Useful for analysing flow cytometry data. It can also analyse image data with flow cytometry methods like dot plots and gating.
  • Cytobank: Free software that can handle large sets of flow cytometry data and contains other advance features. 

Sutton facility

Equpment available:

  • BD FACSAriallµ - Five laser cell sorter
  • BD LSR II - Three laser cell analyser
  • Beckman Coulter MoFloAstrios - Seven laser cell sorter

Software available:

  • BD DiVa
  • Beckman Coulter Kaluza
  • BD Flowjo

Staff members

  • Ian Titley, Facility Manager
  • Louise Howell, Facility Manager