GHP Q1 2018

GHP / Q1 2018 23 Five Fundamentals of Cell Sorting g 2. How rare are the cells you are sorting? If you are planning to sort T cells from peripheral blood, then you have a relatively abundant fraction of cells to work with. If you are trying to sort a rare subset of T cells or another rare population like dendritic cells, you will need to start with a larger pre-sort sample so you can end up with a reasonable number of sorted cells. 3.What are you doing with your cells? The conditions for cell sorting are also determined by what you are doing with your sorted sample. If you are using sorted cells for small scale in vitro experiments, you are likely to need fewer total sorted cells than if you are using them for animal studies. If you are using cells for clinical studies in humans, not only will you need more cells, but cells will have to be sorted under specific conditions to meet safety and regulatory requirements. 4. Are you using any pre-sort purification protocols? Cell sorting can be done more rapidly and result in greater sample purity if a pre-sort purification step is used. This typically includes a magnetic- bead based separation step, which can selectively enrich your sample or exclude cell populations not being sorted. Additional purification steps can affect cell viability as well, so consider this factor as well for your experimental outcomes. 5.What nozzle size is being used on the cell sorter? Cell sorters can be fitted with nozzles of different diameters (such as 70, 85, or 100 µ) to optimize sorting protocols. The nozzle size dictates the size of the cell droplet that is sorted, and a larger diameter nozzle results in a slower sort but can be gentler on cells. These five factors can help you plan a cell sorting experiment or guide your discussion with a cell sorting expert. Always consider running a pilot sorting experiment under different conditions to optimize your protocol and work out any technical kinks.