New cell sorter for FMHS!

15 March 2022

A new cell sorter has been purchased for the Faculty. It has been a journey of several years to get to this point, but thanks to a very generous contribution by the University of Auckland Medical & Health Sciences Foundation (formerly the School of Medicine Foundation) we have now been able to purchase a Cytek Aurora CS spectral cell sorter. Thanks are owed to the Dean, Professor John Fraser, the Head of the School of Medical Sciences, Professor Paul Donaldson, and Dr Scott Graham (Department of Pharmacology and Clinical Pharmacology/Centre for Brain Research) and the selection committee for all their work.

aurora_cs_cell_sorter_image

The Aurora CS is the first sorter produced by Cytek, and uses the same full spectrum technology as Cytek’s non-sorting Aurora and Northern Lights flow cytometers. Some FMHS researchers will be familiar with the Aurora and Northern Lights instruments in SBS.

Full spectrum technology is a recent development in flow cytometry that detects almost the entire emission spectrum of each fluorochrome, rather than just the peak fluorescence as in conventional cytometers. By deconvolution, the signals from all the fluorochromes are separated more completely than is possible on a conventional instrument, and even closely overlapping signals can be resolved.

Our new sorter will have 5 lasers for excitation and 64 detectors for fluorescent emission. It will be capable of sorting 6 populations simultaneously, resolving particles down to 110nm in diameter, and have the same performance in analysis mode as the instruments in SBS.

At the moment, it is expected that the new system will arrive in May. Once the sorter is installed, there will be a call-out for people wishing to be trained on it by a Cytek representative. 

Contact person

Sandy Chen

Technologist, Technical Services

Email: sandy.chen@auckland.ac.nz

Telephone: 923 6473 or Ext 86473