Immune Monitoring and Flow Cytometry Shared Resource

Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center, Seattle WA

Investigators

Linked publications & trials

Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY: IMMUNE MONITORING & FLOW CYTOMETRY SHARED RESOURCE The Immune Monitoring and Flow Cytometry Shared Resource (IM&FCSR) of the Fred Hutch/University of Washington/Seattle Children’s Cancer Consortium provides Consortium members with services and research expertise supporting a wide range of laboratory and clinical studies in cancer immunology, immunotherapy, transplant biology, infectious disease, and vaccine development. Co-directed by Jianhong Cao, PhD (Immune Monitoring Lab-IML) and Michele Black (Flow Cytometry-FC), IM&FCSR supports critical translational and clinical research such as the characterization of immune cell phenotypes, persistence, and functionality in response to immunotherapies. IM&FCSR’s mission is to 1) enable cancer immunotherapy research and clinical trials by providing cutting-edge instrumentation to analyze cell types and their functions 2) ensure researchers have access to technical expertise and superior experimental design support for customized, multiparameter flow cytometry panels and unique immune assays 3) provide high quality customer service and 4) educate Consortium users in use of flow cytometry equipment and immune-assay related research to optimize data quality and reproducibility. Specific services provided by IML include production of custom-made peptide loaded major histocompatibility complex (pMHC) tetramer reagents to assess and isolate antigen-specific T cells for clinical research and therapy trials. IML also provides deep sequencing of T cell receptors and analysis of cytokines at high multiplicity, ultra-sensitivity, and single cell base. FC offers a wide range of instruments, from basic to full spectrum analyzers, CyTOF mass spec analyzers, and cutting-edge multi-laser high parameter cell sorters. Both teams provide data evaluation and interpretation, assistance in optimizing experimental design, hands-on technical assistance, and training. Since the last renewal, the IM&FCSR has expanded its overall new laboratory space by 1,500 sq ft, increasing service and instrumentation capability and capacity. Flow cytometry service was expanded by a total of eight new cytometers including two Becton Dickinson (BD) Symphony™ A5 SE analyzers, a Sony ID7000 and Cytek Aurora full spectrum analyzers, and two BD Symphony™ S6 cell sorters. IML added a z-Movi Cell Analyzer, a novel instrument measuring cell affinity. Both laboratories upgraded biocontainment equipment and practices to process BSL-2 samples. IM&FCSR also launched a new outreach and educational initiative for members of the Consortium community regarding its services and technologies. IM&FCSR is committed to providing cost-effective and timely access to its services and instrumentation. Over the next grant period, we will add other molecular assay based on digital PCR and expand our pMHC tetramer service, particular Class-II tetramers. FC will add the first of its kind BD Discover S8 with Cell View imaging cell sorter. We are partnering with Shared Resources Management to implement Cirro, a new secure cloud-based data management and data analysis pipeline. IM&FCSR will continue to upgrade and add instruments as research requires and the technology advances.