Dear Ryan: Another spot to look for contamination is the open panel where the cyclone arm attaches to the X,Y motors in the rear of the chamber[if you have a cyclone]. I have looked into sealing this area up, but it is impossible if you are doing a plate sort. You could try a silica gasket on the front of the chamber door and dispose of it after each biohaz sort. I know Cytomation [oops...DAKO/Cytomation] has a completely sealed biohaz. chamber available; although it is a bit on the large size. Another thing you want to consider is air intake into the chamber. As the aerosol evacuation system pulls in room air to the sort chamber, make sure your room air is clean. I had clean room tiles and full HEPA filtration installed in my lab. Expensive, but well worth it. You may want to consider replacing the black handle on the sort chamber with a small disposable HEPA filter. This will help to clean the room air that goes into the chamber and the sample collection tubes or plate. A contaminated sort is no fun. Above and beyond that, hopefully the design engineers at DAKO/Cytomation are listening to our suggestions [as they have in the past]. Best of luck and keep us all informed as to your progress. Hope this helps a little. Best regards, -Rich Richard F. Konz, Jr. Scientist Manager, Flow and Image Cytometry Facility Wyeth 200 Cambridge Park Drive Cambridge, MA 02140 USA Office: 617-665-5522 Lab: 617-665-5551 >>> Ryan Duggan <rcduggan@midway.uchicago.edu> 07/15/02 10:11AM >>>
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