FACS440 PMTs and related Question

From: Raymond B. Hester (rhester@jaguar1.usouthal.edu)
Date: Fri Dec 20 1996 - 12:21:58 EST


Can someone tell me the expected lifetime of the PMTs installed with FACS 
440s?  The PMTs on our 440 are Thorn EMI model 4001-06-300 and we have had 
them since the instrument was installed a little over eight years ago. 
Only lately have we seen what appears to be a decrease in their 
sensitivity as indicated by the peak channel that can be obtained with 
green fluorescent polystyrene beads (Polyscience).  We don't do a lot of two 
color and when the PMT used to collect phycoerythrin is substituted for 
the "green" PMT, and peak channels compared, the "orange" PMT gives an 
approx. 3-fold higher peak channel with green beads.  Does the "orange" 
PMT have the same range with regard to wavelength sensitivity as the 
green PMT so that we could swap them out if necessary when doing only one 
color analysis?

Also, is there someone (in the U.S.) using a 440 and willing to analyze a 
few samples that we would send you (beads, and maybe a couple of stained 
and paraformaldehyde-fixed cell samples) so that we could compare our 
results?

Since there are probably so few 440s out there and running on a daily basis, 
the answer to the above could just be sent directly to me.

Thanks for any answers.

Ray

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Raymond B. Hester, Ph.D.		
Flow Cytometry Lab			
The University of South Alabama			Each day is a gift;
Mobile, AL 36688-0002				  that's why it's called,
Email: rhester@jaguar1.usouthal.edu		"the present".
Voice:	 (334) 460-6029					     - Anonymous
FAX:	 (334) 460-6073				
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