5-Laser Flow Cytometer

• Subject Area: Medicine
• Term: Funded in 2025
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 549179469

The main focus of the present project is the procurement of a 'high-end' flow cytometer equipped with 5 lasers to be able to resolve non-abundant cell populations such as rare immune and stem cell subsets with high specificity. Additionally, intracellular signal transduction as well as receptor conformation and function (using FRET-based techniques) can be investigated in small cell populations. The use of the device will focus on studying the biology and function of blood and immune cells in age-associated diseases, inflammation, and the development of blood cancers. In addition to cell-intrinsic changes in clonal blood formation and dysregulation of blood (stem) cells in hematologic neoplasms, the effects of these cells on secondary inflammatory changes of organ systems and the interaction of mature immune cells in infection, inflammation, and blood regeneration will also be examined. The requested flow cytometry instrument will enable quantitative analysis of signal transduction processes (e.g., calcium signaling) or simultaneous analyses of multiple signaling pathways in non-abundant blood and immune cell populations and their pharmacological manipulability on living cells, especially in small cell populations (such as stem cells or leukemia cells in the "minimal residual disease" (MRD) situation). Furthermore, the pharmacological modulation of signaling pathways and their therapeutic exploitation based on various disease models (leukemias, clonal hematopoiesis, inflammatory organ diseases, infection models) can be directly evaluated. Therapeutically relevant discoveries can thus be commercially exploited together with local, national, and international industrial partners. The procurement of a 5-laser flow cytometer with the possibility of laser power modulation enables a new, excellent quality of immunophenotyping with more than 20 different fluorochromes/parameters. The requested 'real' UV (355 nm) laser offers optimal flexibility, sensitivity, and resolution for individual antibody panels. With new innovative UV fluorophores, a much broader spectrum of analyses is possible. The detection of emission in foreign channels is minimized by using this extended fluorochrome spectrum and the quality of the lasers and detectors. Measurement of calcium signaling in non-abundant cell populations is feasible with high sensitivity. Furthermore, pharmacological and genetic screenings in 384-well format will be enabled by a high-throughput sampler.

• DFG Programme: Major Research Instrumentation
• Major Instrumentation: 5-Laser Durchflusszytometer
• Instrumentation Group: 3500 Zellzähl- und Klassiergeräte (außer Blutanalyse), Koloniezähler
• Applicant Institution: Medizinische Hochschule Hannover
• Leader: Professor Dr. Florian Heidel