sorting biohazards
Larry Seamer (larry@athena.unm.edu)
Thu, 17 Nov 94 08:42:12 MST
I too have been concerned about making aerosols of infectious agents
through droplet sorting. In a recent posting it was noted that the
ELITE has an exhaust fan that draws through a biohazard filter. I
recently checked to see if the fan was actually drawing air through
the filter. I placed a smoking Q-tip in the sort chamber and closed
the plexiglass door. The smoke filled the chamber with air currents
insufficient to show any clearing of the smoke. If I held the Q-tip
close to the exhaust port the smoke was dawn slowly towards the port.
If I removed the biohazard filter, the smoke was drawn from the
chamber much quicker.
I am left with a "catch-22". The fan will draw droplets out the back
of the instrument only if there is no filter to catch the infectious
agents.
CD ROM Vol 2 was produced by staff at the Purdue University Cytometry Laboratories
and distributed free of charge as an educational service to the cytometry community.
If you have any comments please direct them to Dr. J. Paul Robinson, Professor & Director, PUCL,
Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN 47907. Phone:(317) 494-0757; FAX (317) 494-0517; Web http://www.cyto.purdue.edu
EMAIL robinson@flowcyt.cyto.purdue.edu
