BD Influx System – Sorter
Description
This Instrument is a flexible and stable stream-in-air flow cytometry sorter platform and is capable of high-speed and single-cell sorting.
The system has 5 laser excitation (405nm, 457nm, 488nm, 561nm, and 633nm) and up to 19 fluorescent detectors.
The instrument has the capability of up to six-way sorting into tubes or single-cell sorting directly into plates or slides (96, 384, and 1536 wall plates).
Small particle detection (>100nm) is also available for marine biology, microbiology, and environmental applications.
Specifications and performance
Optics
For each laser, light is shaped by individual optics, and final alignment and focusing are achieved using a dedicated lens that steers light to the stream at different angles. The laser paths are collinear through the steering optics and focusing lens, but intersect the stream at spatially separated points. Fluorescence is collected through a high NA lens and focused on individual mirrored pinholes, reducing crosstalk between lasers.
Small Particle Option
The Small Particle Option on the BD Influx system improves forward scatter detection. This option lowers the threshold on size measurements using a special detector with a high NA microscope lens, a pinhole, and a photomultiplier tube (PMT). The pinhole reduces the amount of stray light reaching the detector and prevents saturation of the PMT. Optimized sheath fluid (0.1-micron filtered) lowers the intrinsic noise level, which enables the measurement of particles as small as 200 nm.
This resolution makes the Small Particle Option particularly valuable for applications in marine biology, microbiology, and environmental biology. The Small Particle Option also allows researchers to detect fluorescence in the forward direction. This capability is used in applications such as chlorophyll detection.
Electronics
The BD Influx system uses parallel electronics to reach a throughput rate of 200,000 events per second, independent of the number of parameters. For high sensitivity and low noise, the BD Influx system uses analog electronics in the first stage of signal amplification. The output of the analog peak and hold circuitry is digitized using 16-bit ADCs and placed on a patented parallel processing digital bus. The bus handles real-time compensation as well as other digitized signals, including the area and width of up to eight additional pulses. A variety of sort modes, optimized to favor purity, yield, or count accuracy, is standard. A custom mode allows researchers to optimize those settings for a specific application.
Nozzle selection and design
An expanded set of nozzles lets users sort a wide range of particle sizes. Four nozzle sizes are supported: 70, 86, 100, 140, and 200 microns.
Working policy
Users who wish to work on the Influx system must contact Dr. Aviv Lutaty before ordering this system.