Flow Cytometry

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Located in the Integrated Sciences Building, the Flow Cytometry core serves over 30 labs on the UMass Amherst campus, spanning the Elaine Marieb College of Nursing, College of Natural Sciences, and the School of Public Health and Health Sciences.

“Flow cytometry is a versatile technique that can be used in so many different experiments,” said Amy Burnside, research assistant professor in Veterinary and Animal Sciences, and director of both the Flow Cytometry and Computed Tomography and Optical Imaging cores (pictured, left foreground, below). “The whole purpose of this core facility is to teach people about flow cytometry and how they can apply it to their research.” Research applications include studying cancer as well as Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, and Huntington’s diseases.

The Flow Cytometry core recently acquired two new pieces of state-of-the-art equipment—a BD FACSAria Fusion and a Cytek Aurora—through a grant from Massachusetts Life Sciences Center’s (MLSC) Research Infrastructure program. This new equipment enhances the core's capabilities and helps it to bring in new customers.

Because flow cytometry is a “just in time” research technique, Burnside explained, most clients are on-campus researchers. Some human health start-up companies use the facility as well, often while working out of the nearby Collaboratories, incubator spaces in the Life Science Laboratories (LSL).

“It saves researchers a lot of money to have access to a centralized Flow Cytometry core facility,” said Burnside. “Our equipment is better than any one lab can afford to buy or maintain. I also train users on the equipment, and some of it is available 24/7.”

Burnside takes seriously her role in training students in flow cytometry.

“Flow cytometry is a highly desired skill in biotech right now. The undergraduate and graduate students who learn these skills with the highest-level instruments in this facility are really competitive in the job market,” she said. “Many of our students go on to biotech careers in Boston.”

Junior biology major Hannah Albright (pictured in the photo above, at the right) first began working in the Flow Cytometry core through the Core Summer Internship Program. There, she learned to maintain the instruments and worked on a research project with an undergraduate at Smith College, studying endothelial microparticles in pre-menopausal, perimenopausal, and post-menopausal women.

“I had never worked in a lab setting before. I learned general sterile techniques along with many of the mechanics of running a lab, and different instrumentation and software,” she said. “I think that will help me moving forward as I advance in my career. I also learned how to work with different types of people and to be independent and problem solve.”