Acquisition of advanced cytometry tools for DoD supported research at UC-Santa Barbara

Abstract

We propose to acquire a Sony MA900 fluorescence activated cell sorter (FACS) to enhance a number of existing and potential DoD research efforts on the UCSB campus. Cytometry techniques combine illumination (typically by laser or light sources of different wavelengths) and detectors for imaging or counting to enable the identification, characterization and sorting of cells, e.g., by cell contents using fluorescent reporter dyes or cell size using optical properties. Fluorescence activated cell sorting (FACS) flows suspended populations of cells past a laser to excite fluorescent emission of a label then past a series of detectors to rapidly count and isolate subpopulations into distinct samples. This FACS instrument will enable urgent research needs and significantly expand quantitative biological measurement capabilities at UCSB relative to currently funded and potential DoD initiatives. The requested FACS would revolutionize current DoD projects affiliated with the Institute for Collaborative Biotechnology (ICB) through ARO contract W911NF-19-2-0026, specifically in the Systems and Synthetic Biology Task Force, and the Biomaterials Task Force. The new instrument and associated support will be managed under the Biological Nanostructures Laboratory (BNL) of the California NanoSystems Institute (CNSI) and will enable the quantitation of subpopulations of cells and organisms that increasingly relies on correlating phenotype with genomic, epigenomic, and proteomic assays at single cell resolution. The management of the instrumentation, including its use in education and outreach efforts, will leverage CNSI s sterling reputation for shared experimental facilities and educational infrastructure. Research areas greatly facilitated by the acquisition of this equipment include: synthetic biology, developmental and evolutionary biology, neuroscience, microbiology and virology, systems biology, and cell and biomaterials engineering.

Document Details

Document Type
DoD Grant Award
Publication Date
Apr 07, 2022
Source ID
W911NF2210075

Entities

People

  • Michelle O Malley

Organizations

  • Army Contracting Command
  • United States Army
  • University of California, Santa Barbara

Tags

Fields of Study

  • Biology

Readers

  • Immunology
  • Molecular Genetics
  • Research Science/Academic Research

Technology Areas

  • Biotechnology
  • Directed Energy
  • Microelectronics