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>Hi all!
>
>Our lab has just received funds for a FACS & are currently
deliberating over >whether to get a B-D FACS Calibur or a Coulter
Epics XL. Any >comments/suggestions would be appreciated. (I'm
leaning towards getting a >FACS Calibur, but my supervisor wants to
get the best deal)
>
>Thanks in advance
>
>
>Maribel Leong
>via HappyMail!
>
>Dept Medicine (RMH)
>University of Melbourne
>Australia
>It is impossible to advise someone on which instrument best suits
their needs. However our laboratory recently evaluated >these two
instruments - we were looking for an instrument to fulfill our need
for an automated clinical cytometer.
>After several weeks with both instruments in the lab to *play* with,
we concluded that they are largely technically equivalent >in terms of
achieving the final answer.
>The decision therefore became one of which vendor will provide the
*best deal* with regard to overall value for money and >lowest
operating cost.
>Such a choice will of course vary in different parts of the world
due to the local marketing strategy's of the two companies. It >is
therfore possibly in-appropriate for me to state in this forum which
analyser we selected.
>I notice however that your institution is situated less than 1Km
from our laboratory and therefore think that there is possibly >scope
for us to communicate directly on these matters.
>I can be reached by voice or e-mail as shown below.
>Peter Chapple
>Senior Scientist - Haematology
>Peter MacCallum Cancer Institute
>Melbourne AUSTRALIA e-mail: peterc@petermac.unimelb.edu.au voice:
+613 9656 1530
Peter,
To suggest these two machines are" technically equivalent" is
grossly incorrect. The FACScalibur has two excitation frequencies
(two lasers-Argon 488nm & Red Diode 633nm) with temporal separation,
whereas the XL has a single excitation frequency (one laser-Argon
488nm) . The FACScalibur's two lasers allow for the use of APC which
is second only to PE in efficiency of energy transfer. This permits
the detection of two low density antigens on a single cell, something
the XL cannot do. The order of emission intensity for equivalent
excitation intensity is PE>APC>PerCP>FITC. Not only do research
applications benefit from this enhanced sensitivity, but day to day
clinical applications as well. One good example would be to compare
CD19 conjugated to all the available fluorochromes. FITC and PerCP
CD19 conjugates stain a log decade less bright than APC and PE
conjugates. Also the FACScalibur can sort, the XL cannot.
Mark G. Edinger
Cleveland Clinic Foundation
Cleveland, Ohio
edingem@cesmtp.ccf.org
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