Patankar earns OVCR Research Cores Revitalization grant

Manish Patankar, PhD, director of the Division of Reproductive Sciences, received a grant from the UW–Madison Office of the Vice Chancellor of Research to make important upgrades to research equipment.  

The Research Cores Revitalization Grant will help purchase and operationalize a new cell sorter. Grant co-investigator Dagna Sheerar, Flow Cytometry Director in the UW Carbone Cancer Center Flow Cytometry Laboratory, shared details about what the new equipment will mean for research: 

“TheBD S8 FACS Discovery is the newest cell sorter manufactured by BD Biosciences.  This instrument is a significant upgrade to live cell fluorescence-based sorting on campus, with 5 laser excitation lines, 78 unique fluorescence detectors, and 6 image channels. This imaging capability is new to cell sorting and will allow for selection of cell populations based on localization of fluorescence signals within individual cells (think activation states of immune cell populations, or punctate fluorescent protein signal vs diffuse, and even cell-cell complexes).   

The imaging capabilities can also be used for quality control of samples brought to the UWCCC Flow Cytometry Laboratory for cell sorting. This sorter also increases the total number of populations we can simultaneously sort, or purify, from 4 to 6, as well as the capability to deposit single cells into up to 384 well plates. Additionally, this instrument is a spectral cytometer, measuring the emission spectra of each fluorochrome used from about 360nm up to about 830nm, providing a unique spectral signature for each fluorochrome and allowing us to expand the total number of fluorochromes we can use per sample.  

We are very excited to be able to offer these capabilities to researchers on campus and to finally be able to sort samples in the high parameter range (20+ colors or fluorochromes) to further support researchers using high parameter flow cytometry for analysis. 

Please feel free to contact the UWCCC Flow Cytometry Laboratory at uwflow@uwcarbone.wisc.edu with any questions or ideas about how the BD S8 FACS Discover can help you advance your research. 

We expect that this instrument will be available to researchers late summer to early fall of 2024.  Watch our website for updates."

Congratulations to Dr. Patankar and the Flow Cytometry Lab!