In this section, you will find information related to the instruments currently used by the Core Immunology Lab.

Self-use of CIL Instruments:

Depending on your experience level, training may be required to operate any of CIL's self-use instruments. Use of these instruments is currently limited to individuals in the Division of Experimental Medicine. Click here for details on the UCSF Flow Cytometry Training courses. An iLab account is required to enroll in the training courses and to schedule time on CIL's instruments.

After the necessary level of training has been completed, please reach out to [email protected] to set up a quick Fluidics Cart training with Nitasha Kumar.

Operator Assistance: 

CIL and the Parnassus Flow Core offer operator assistance if you are looking to run an experiment prior to completing your training or if you are not yet comfortable with running your experiment independently. To request operator assistance, please contact [email protected] (CIL) or [email protected] (PFCC). Please note that CIL only offers assistance on instruments housed at the Division of Experimental Medicine. 

If you would like to schedule operator assistance, we request that you provide advanced notice of at least a week. The Core does not operate on weekends and holidays, so plan your experiments accordingly. 

CIL Rates: 

Our rates are listed in the table below. Contact us at [email protected] if you have any questions. 

Analysis on the BD LSRII

The BD LSRII is a flow cytometer analyzer equipped with 4 lasers, generating data of up to 20 parameters for each event passing through the interrogation point. Analysis occurs at the curvette flow cell, increaseing sensitivity and resolution, allowing detection of 2 relative physical properties as well as up to 18 different colors simultaneously. It can be run at 3 sample flow rates with a fine-tune adjustor and is capable of analysis rates of up to 40,000 events per second. They are operated using FACSDiva software and are available to the Division of Experimental Medicine for use. 

The instruments are housed in the UCSF Division of Experimental Medicine, in ZSFG Building 3, Room 538. The room has BSL2 level containment. 

Instrument Configuration

Analysis on the BD FACSAria II for fluorescence-activated cell sorting (FACS)

The BD FACSAria II is equipped with 5 lasers generating data of up to 20 parameters for each event passing throught the iterrogation point, and allows the collection of up to 4 different populations. The sorter can detect 2 relative physical properties as well as up to 18 colors simultaneously. The Aria is operated using FACSDiva software and is available for individuals in the Division of Experimental Medicine. 

The instrument is housed in the UCSF Division of Experimental Medicine, in ZSFG Building 3, Room 615. The room has BSL2* level containment. 

Instrument Configuration

Analysis on the Cytek Aurora

Cytek's Spectral Flow Cytometer equipped with five excitation sources and 64 fluorescence emission detection channels, which provides measurement of the full visible spectrum for each fluorochrome. Automatic micro-sampling system (AMS) for sampling of standard 96-well format is available. 

Instrument Configuration