Fluorescence Activated Cell Analyzer (FACS)

• Subject Area: Microbiology, Virology and Immunology
• Term: Funded in 2020
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 447629084

On behalf of the Medizinischen Fakultät Carl Gustav Carus of the Technischen Universität Dresden I am requesting the support of purchasing a analyzer as substitute for an older machine as part of the Core Facility of the faculty.This Core Facility is located in the central research building of the faculty and features two Sorters and one analyzer. These machines are extensively used by a large number of users. The analyzer is in operation since 2005 and is continuously and extensively used – except for increasing down times due to repair. The 15 years of heavy usage of this machine is quite remarkable and is largely due to excellent care provided by a dedicated technician and is due to clear user rules and regular service by the respective company. In the last few years, the need to repair increased, but will be difficult as now spare parts will be produced anymore. In 2018, the machine was non-functional at 81 days, in 2005- to 2012 this happened at only 13 days per year.The smooth usage via online booking will also be ensured in the future by the specially trained technician. Users from 18 or 20 (2018/2019) different institutions or research groups have used this machine with a total number of more than 60 individual users. The monthly hours of use were more than 190 in the years 2013-2017 – the analyzer is used to full capacity. As there were increased repairs, the usgae hours decreased to app.135 h/month in 2018 and 147 h/month in 2019. Experienced users are also allowed to use the machine on weekends and in off-hours. Considering the heavy use and demand, the consequences of down times are quite dramatic for the users.The urgent need to purchase a replacement machine is obvious. The machine will be placed in the same location with no new installations required, and will have a modest increase in performance parameters, i.e. 25 instead of 18 parameters to be measured. The analyzer is essentiell for a wide range of research activities, many based on third-party funds, of the faculty. Therefore I kindly request on behalf of the many users of this equipment to support this application and give it high priority. Highest priority has been given by the commission for large research equipment of the faculty.

• DFG Programme: Major Research Instrumentation
• Major Instrumentation: 5-Laser Durchflusszytometer
• Instrumentation Group: 3500 Zellzähl- und Klassiergeräte (außer Blutanalyse), Koloniezähler
• Applicant Institution: Technische Universität Dresden
• Leader: Professor Dr. Rolf Jessberger