Cell sorting
FACSing messages directly from the brain: new frontiers in fluorescence-activated cell sorting
Fluorescence-activated cell sorting has come a long way since its early days and is now widely considered to be a mature technology in terms of throughput, sensitivity, and versatility. Aside from rapid progress in microfluidic-based technologies, future breakthroughs in cell sorting can be expected primarily in the area of novel applications, especially with respect to the isolation of rare cell types (such as stem cells) in clinical settings. An impressive demonstration of the power of FACS was recently also reported for the isolation of specific classes of neurons for expression profiling, indicating the potential of this technology to contribute significantly to the understanding of brain function. [More]
Good cell sorting practice: Sterile, disposable FACS subsystems for GMP applications
Just when you have got over the marvel of disposable cameras, here come disposable FACS machines. Well….., sort of. Reporting in the September issue of Cytometry B: Clinical Cytometry, a group led by Jeffrey Haug at the Stowers Institute for Medical Research in Kansas City, Missouri describes the development of disposable components for flow cytometers to enable entirely sterile cell sorting procedures. An important limitation of FACS technology until now has been the relative lack of sterility in most off-the-shelf cell sorting systems. While many standard procedures are available to create aseptic conditions around the actual cell sorting process, some of the hardware components of the instrument itself are nonsterile and do come into direct contact with the fluids containing the cells, thereby compromising their sterility and introducing the risk of cross-contamination. [More]
Sorting your way through the blood-brain barrier: FACS-based screening for better CNS drugs
One of the more challenging aspects of developing drugs for the central nervous system is getting these to pass through the blood-brain barrier. Using fluorescence-activated cell sorting, a novel assay for this purpose has recently been developed using suspension cultures of brain capillary endothelial cells, opening the door to the high-throughput screening of compounds that have appropriate permeability properties. [More]
