Image-based sorting capability comes to the Flow Cytometry facility

Key points:

• Funding from the BBSRC has supported the purchase of the technology’s only cell sorter that is capable of imaging cells to sort them into populations.
• A BD FACSDiscover S8 Spectral Sorter has been installed and rolled out for use in the Institute’s Flow Cytometry facility.
• The acquisition of this technology will not only support the Institute’s research teams but also the research taking place in several commercial bioscience companies co-located with the Institute on the Babraham Research Campus as well as companies external to the campus.
• Funding from a UKRI-BBSRC Campus Innovation Award (CIA) via the Babraham Research Campus Collaboration Fund will be used to support exploratory research by campus companies on the new equipment to pilot the use of the new capabilities in a variety of research scenarios.

With BBSRC investment through the ALERT programme, the Institute’s Flow Cytometry facility has expanded its provision of spectral flow cytometry with the acquisition of a Becton Dickinson FACSDiscover S8 Spectral Sorter (S8). The cell sorter is the first instrument within the facility that can pair cell sorting with cell imaging, allowing researchers to identify and obtain cell populations that could not previously be isolated.

The Institute’s Flow Cytometry facility provides an unmatched provision of technology and expertise to researchers at the Institute, on the Babraham Research Campus and nationally. The addition of combined cell sorting and cell imaging capability extends how the facility is able to support cutting-edge research, enabling new science to support improved health.

Dr Rachael Walker, Head of the Flow Cytometry facility, described the potential of the new instrument: “In recent years we have led the application of spectral flow cytometry and seen this technology enthusiastically embraced by the Institute’s researchers. The new instrument overcomes a significant limitation of our current cell sorting provision, allowing users to sort cells based on their morphology or fluorescence characteristics for the first time. This insight into cell populations will be transformative for the research we support.”

Transforming research

With wide uptake of the new S8 instrument across the Institute’s three research programmes, use of the S8 by Institute researchers in particular will:

• Support research in the Houseley lab on the role of cellular ageing in mediating drug resistance in pathogenic fungi (a BBSRC Pioneer award-funded project) by allowing precise cell sorting of yeast cells based on shape.
• Advance our understanding of T cell responses as part of an immune response by supporting cell-by-cell characterisation (Richard lab) as well as the molecular mechanisms controlling immune cell development and function (Turner lab and Ribeiro de Almeida lab).
• Unlock new possibilities for research investigating the cellular and molecular regulation of human development (Rugg-Gunn lab) by allowing cell selection based on the cellular location of proteins.
• Allow sorting of cells based on the nuclear location of enzymes in research that explores how diet and metabolism connects with ageing and metabolic syndromes such as obesity and type 2 diabetes (Trefely lab).

Flow cytometry technology is an essential component of the Institute’s life science research. The facility, recognised as an internationally-leading hub for spectral and imaging cytometry, also supports over 30 commercial life science companies on the Babraham Research Campus as well as from the Cambridge and Stevenage bioclusters.

With its cutting-edge and bespoke approach to flow cytometry applications, the facility’s expert team work hand in hand with researchers from concept development to data acquisition and analysis.

Dr Andrea Negro, EMEA Product Manager, said: “We are sure that the dynamic scientific community at the Institute and on the Babraham Research Campus will leverage the innovative technology of the S8 to deliver groundbreaking research in the near future. With support from the facility’s expert team, users will immediately benefit from the SpectraFX^(TM) system, while discovering what's behind the dots exploring the CellView^(TM) Image Technology potential.”

Supporting skills development

Facility members are active in international networks to share and extend best practice and the facility runs the UK’s only spectral flow cytometry symposium as well as a successful training programme. Participants at the Institute’s recent Spectral Flow Cytometry symposium were amongst the first to experience the capabilities of the new instrument and the S8 will also be included in the team’s future training on spectral cytometry and cell sorting.

The facility team works in close partnership with companies developing flow cytometry technology to provide expert feedback on requirements. The relationship established between the facility and Becton Dickinson has also resulted in guidance for the flow cytometry field on practical considerations for buffers for spectral cell sorting (Dapaah et al. 2024, pre-print).

ALERT 2023

Aligning with UKRI’s people and teams action plan, applications to the ALERT programme could be led by research technical professionals (in contrast to the usual requirement for grant applications to be led by Principal Investigators). The Institute’s application was led by the Head of the Flow Cytometry facility, Dr Rachael Walker.

Overall, the ALERT 2023 investment from the BBSRC totalled £22.3m, supporting 29 projects in 22 organisations across the UK.