Flow Cytometers in Southern California Start-Ups Can Access

04/07/20 | 1 MIN READ

A common technique to study cellular characteristics and relations to immune functions.

What is Flow Cytometry?

Flow cytometry is an analysis tool that identify, sort, and analyzes multiple physical characteristics of cells. It is a common technique to study cellular characteristics and relations to immune functions.  This mechanism works by suspending individual cells in a solution, allowing them to be studied independently and simultaneously. The
properties measured include a cell’s relative size, relative granularity or internal complexity, and relative fluorescence intensity. These characteristics are determined using an optical-to-electronic coupling system that records how the cell or particle scatters incident laser light and emits fluorescence. Some flow cytometry applications include:

  • Immunophenotyping
  • Cell Sorting
  • Cell Cycle Analysis
  • Apoptosis
  • Cell Proliferation
  • Assays
  • Intracellular Calcium
  • Flux

Where are the Flow Cytometers in Southern California?

Flow cytometers are expensive, not only to purchase, but also to maintain so it is often difficult for a single, life science start-up to purchase one for exclusive use. Some wet lab incubators and scientific coworking spaces have flow cytometers on their equipment list such as JLabs San Diego. It is important to find out if use of specialized capital equipment is included in the monthly rent or if there is an additional charge.

If your lab does not have a flow cytometer, look to your nearest leading research university. Many have core facilities that are open to community access. These facilities offer state-of-the-art equipment and flow cytometry expertise with their staff. Some core facilities have pre-negotiated, reduced pricing for start-ups residing in their neighboring incubators.

How much does it cost to use a flow cytometer at a core facility?

Below is a list of five research universities in Southern California with flow cytometry core facilities open to community access including specific instruments and their listed commercial rates. 

UC San Diego cell analyzer

Contact Information:

UC Irvine

Flow Cytometry Facility (FCF)

Manager: Jennifer Atwood, PhD | (949) 824-3431 | jmatwood@uci.edu

Sue & Bill Gross Stem Cell Research Center

(949) 824-3990 | stemcell@uci.edu

Manager: Vanessa Scarfone, MS | vanessa.s@uci.edu

UC Los Angeles

Janis V. Giorgi Flow Cytometry Core Laboratory

Director: Gay Crooks, MD | (310) 825-4408 | BSCRCFlowCore@mednet.ucla.edu

UC San Diego

Altman Clinical and Translational Research Institute (ACTRI)

Director: Nunzio Bottini, MD, PhD | nbottini@ucsd.edu

UC Riverside

Stem Cell Core Facility

Director: Dr. Prue Talbot |(951) 827-3768 |talbot@ucr.edu

USC Stem Cell

Flow Cytometry Facility

Eli and Edythe Broad CIRM Center for Regenerative Medicine and Stem Cell Research at USC
1425 San Pablo Street, BCC 205B
Los Angeles, CA 90033

Director: Jeffrey Boyd | 323-442-7942 | boydjeff@usc.edu        

 

Revised 11/18/2020

FREE RESOURCE

The Ultimate Guide to Wet Lab Incubators

Download The Ultimate Guide to Wet Lab Incubators in Southern California, a handbook to assist life science start-ups through the entire decision-making process to find wet lab space.

Download Now

Fill out the form below to download the Ultimate Guide

Apply for residency today

Do you have a great company in the bioscience or medtech industry? Do you need wet-lab and/or fabrication space to develop and test your product?

Apply