Hi Wayne and others who may be interested. Yes the BD CBA can be read on a Coulter XL. Coversion of Coulter CBA files via FACSConvert will put the files to FCS 2.0 in the right format for the MacIntosh. The CBA software MS Excel Add-in on the mac platform will automatically detect the instrument source (ie Coulter XL in this case) and process the files as it would normally for a BD generated file. It is critical that the MS Excel has the solver add-in installed in addition to the CBA add in. Unfortunately the universality of MS Excel across platforms is not universal. We run into problems running this on PC MS Excel installs. We have not been successful to date in tracking down the inconsistencies between mac/pc performance of the add - in. This means that the analysis of the FCS files must be done on a mac version of excel. Re: BD CBA on an XL: The Coulter XL flow cytometer is able to use either FL3 with minor modification or the optional FL4 unmodified to run the BD Cytometric Bead Array. For FL3 approaches, a standard 660/40 nm band pass from Omega Optical can be installed on the FL3 detector and obtain excellent resolution and low level of noise compared to the standard bandpass of 620/30 . If the FL4 detector option is installed on the Coulter XL, then the CBA particles can be run directly with no modification to the optical components required. Our information shows that a set up voltage within 900 to 1,000 volts be used with the FL-3 detector fitted with a 660/40 bandpass filter to optimally minimize background. The use of the 660/40 bandpass in the FL3 position is critical in resolving the 7 bead mix, and provides for excellent resolution and control of noise levels while maintaining a decent voltage (900 to 1,000 volts out of 2,000). For the 4th detector option, testing of the set up bead mix using voltages of 800, 850 and 900 on the FL4 detector indicate that a voltage setting of around 850 on the FL4 detector and using the supplied bandpass filter, the target value (500) as indicated can be easily attained. Hope this helps Regards Tony Ward BD Biosciences
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Sat Mar 10 2001 - 19:31:37 EST