Proposal

Name:

Biological Sciences Flow Cytometry Core Facility Proposal

FiscalYear:

2013

Audience:

Science, College of

Submitter:

Lang, Kevin

Budget Manager:

Blanchard, Dominique

Project Manager:

Hartmann, James X

Proposal Approvers

Dept. Chair:

Murphey, Rodney K.

Local IT:

N/A

Dean:

Ivy, Russell L.

Facilities:

N/A

OIT:

Bagdonas, Joseph A.

Proposal Funding

Year 1:

$ 71,900.00

Year 2:

$ 0.00

Year 3:

$ 0.00

Total:

$ 71,900.00

Proposal Funding versus Average

Questionnaire

Narrative

 

We are seeking approval of technology fee funds to purchase a flow cytometer for the Biological Sciences department, to be located in Dr. Hartmann’s lab in the Biological Sciences building.  As the university has grown, the number of students in the biology department has rapidly expanded and currently we have 2,446 declared biology major students with 300 graduating during the 2012-2013 year, making us the largest department in the university.  Concordantly, interest in immunology because of its application to cancer biology has dramatically increased as well with class sizes for immunology and cancer biology reaching 130 and 150 students respectively during the current year.  Graduate level Advanced Immunology has increased in class size from an average of 6-7 per semester to 18 students, with both senior undergraduates and graduate students enrolling.  There is increased demand for undergraduate research opportunities, usually in the form of Directed Independent Study (DIS) and honors biology research.  This is unsurprising given both FAU’s strategic plan and quality enhancement plan emphasizing biotechnology and student research, and an increasingly competitive work force where undergraduate research experience is highly desired by employers.

            Flow cytometry is essential for future studies in immunology, but increased usage for cutting edge research in other fields makes its knowledge and training an incredibly valuable skill sought after by potential biotech employers such as VGTI, the Max Plank Institute, and Scripps.  Dr. Hartmann trains some of the largest numbers of DIS students in the biology department and has so for the last 10 years.  Currently he has 8 DIS students registered for this semester and over the last 5 years he has trained 76 DIS students or approximately 5-7 per semester, in addition to multiple graduate students including three who have received PhDs.  His former DIS students have obtained jobs in biotech, sought doctoral degrees, and entered medical school and other professional schools. Many have gone on to have extraordinary accomplishments both in the private sector and academia.  Dr. Hartmann’s lab is one of the larger training sites for biological research within the university.  However, while the department of Biological Sciences is reasonably equipped for immunological and biotech experiments, the department does not have a flow cytometer that could provide essential training for our future scientists.

    Flow cytometry has become an essential instrument both for teaching and conducting research in the fields of immunology and cancer biology.  It is increasingly utilized in neurobiology, molecular biology, environmental science, and is heavily utilized by most biotechnology companies.  Flow cytometry allows students to investigate many cellular parameters at one time while only requiring a very small number of cells or sample material to be used.  No other instrument can analyze qualitatively and quantitatively over a hundred thousand cells within minutes. Thus its use in a variety of fields and studies has rapidly expanded.  Most current studies in immunology, biotechnology and molecular, cell biology are published with data obtained by flow cytometry.  As flow cytometry has matured, it has increasingly been used to replace or supplement other essential assays such as ELISAs, western blotting, and immunohistochemistry.  Not only has it become indispensible for conducting numerous studies, but its flexibility allows scientists to perform many different types of assays using one instrument. Without the availability of this instrument within the department, there is no course offering in flow cytometry as is offered in many other universities.

            Currently, only the College of Medicine has a flow cytometry core facility, but it is limited to professors conducting research on a fee basis and the medical students. The expense and expertise required for use of their instrument precludes training a large number of students in a laboratory class setting and is one of the main reasons that the College of Medicine does not offer a course in flow cytometry nor does it train our graduate students. We propose the purchase of a new type of user-friendly flow cytometer for teaching purposes. BD’s Accuri flow cytometer, is much less expensive than any other current flow cytometers and yet is a very robust and sophisticated instrument that is readily portable. Its use requires less technical skill to operate, making it incredibly desirable for training our students.  Its availability would greatly enhance the quality of training we provide our biological science students during DIS and graduate studies. Some current graduate students in biological sciences travel to Scripps in Jupiter to perform flow cytometry analyses for their studies at great expense of time and funds. Others cannot afford to pay the fee required by the core facility and forego use of the instrument. Dr. Hartmann’s lab is centrally located in the biological sciences department on the main Boca campus and a state of the art flow cytometer located therein allows the training of a large number of students in this valuable expertise and greatly increases the availability to our DIS and graduate students.

            Flow cytometry is a cutting edge technology that is employed in many disciplines in biological sciences and biochemistry. It is increasingly being utilized in many other fields, replacing many tedious and out-dated experimental assays. The procurement of a flow cytometer for departmental use would allow us to provide training to a large number of undergraduate and graduate students both within and without our department. The availability of this cutting edge instrument and ready access would give our students an incredibly valuable skill that would distinguish them in their pursuit of further education or employment in the very stable and ever increasing biotechnology industry.

Facilities
Hardware Requirements
1.  BD Accuri™ C6 Flow Cytometer, BD Accuri C6 Software, Workstation, BD
CSampler™ and BD CSampler Software - Flow cytometer and workstation to run and analyze samples using flow cytometry
($66,600)

2.  C6 Flow cytometry starter kit and Spherotech 8-Peak Validation Beads (FL1 - FL4) - Contains concentrate for making cleaning and decontamination solutions & bacteriostatic concentrate for treating Sheath fluid to begin operation and optimize flow cytometer fluid dynamics. The 6 and 8-peak Spherotech Validation Beads are used to validate and optimize the operation of blue and a red laser, two light scatter detectors, and four fluorescence detectors with optical filters  for the detection of fluorochromes FITC, PE, PerCP, and APC.
($3,100)

Software Requirements
1.  FlowJo flow cytometry analysis software - software to analyze flow cytometry data
($2,200)
Personnel Costs
No personnel costs are required.
Other Costs
There are no other costs associated with this project.
Timeline
Pending approval, a BD Accuri can be purchased, arrive, and be setup by the end of the Spring 2014 semester.  Their use in teaching and research will be on a continuing basis.
Sustainability

Purchase comes with a 1 year manufacturer's warranty for the equipment.  These equipment need little routine maintenance during their lifespan (usually 8 - 10years). Software updates are free for the suite and FlowJo software will not need to be updated for flow cytometry core lab purposes. Reagents required for projects will be provided by individual principle investigators.

Resource Matching
None
Implementing Organization
Dr. Hartmann's lab and the Biological Sciences department will implement the project.

Proposal Budget

Fiscal Year 1 Fiscal Year 2 Fiscal Year 3 Total
Hardware One-Time $ 69,700.00 $ 0.00 $ 0.00 $ 69,700.00
Hardware Recurring $ 0.00 $ 0.00 $ 0.00 $ 0.00
Software One-time $ 2,200.00 $ 0.00 $ 0.00 $ 2,200.00
Software Recurring $ 0.00 $ 0.00 $ 0.00 $ 0.00
Personnel One-time $ 0.00 $ 0.00 $ 0.00 $ 0.00
Personnel Recurring $ 0.00 $ 0.00 $ 0.00 $ 0.00
Other One-time $ 0.00 $ 0.00 $ 0.00 $ 0.00
Other Recurring $ 0.00 $ 0.00 $ 0.00 $ 0.00
Totals $ 71,900.00 $ 0.00 $ 0.00 $ 71,900.00

Supporting Documentation

Filename Size Description
BD Accuri C6 quote.pdf 144,872b BD Accuri C6 Flow cytometer quote