Biohazardous properties of sorters

Neal Benson (neal@cell.path.med.ufl.edu)
Wed, 8 Sep 93 10:48:08 EDT

I am attempting to establish a biosafety policy in my flow cytometry
lab, which includes a FACSTAR Plus cell sorter. Since cell sorters (at
least those which sort by electrostatic droplet deflection) can produce
aerosols, I would assume that sorting, or maybe even analysis, of
unfixed human materials should be generally prohibited on these
instruments, in this era of universal precautions. In the past, it was
usually no problem to fix the samples, but now one user needs to sort
and extract RNA from the sorted cells, which is unlikely to work on
fixed material.

I'd like to solicit opinions on the subject. If these samples are
run in your lab on similar instruments, what safety precautions
do you take? Do you pretest samples for biohazards and if so, what test
do you use? Does anyone have any hard data on the potential hazards of
sorting infectious materials, published or anecdotal?

If your lab is involved in doing this or has set up policies for it, any
information would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

--
Neal Benson                    |  Phone: (904) 392-0008
Department of Pathology        |  FAX  : (904) 392-4693
Box 100275                     |  Email: nbenson@nervm.nerdc.ufl.edu
University of Florida          |
Gainesville, FL  32610  USA    |

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