Mission
The Research Flow Cytometry Core of the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia Research Institute, located on the 12th floor of the Abramson Pediatric Research Center, is a fee-for-service facility available to all members of the research community of The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and The University of Pennsylvania. The laboratory serves as a core for the Hospital's General Clinical Research Center as well as the Center for AIDS Research of the University of Pennsylvania. It is a NIAID-certified flow cytometry laboratory that serves the needs of the national Pediatric AIDS Clinical Trials Group. This facility is equipped with a dual laser Becton Dickinson analytical FACS Calibur flow cytometer and a Coulter EPICS Elite cell sorter equipped with dual 5 watt UV-enhanced argon lasers, a 20 mwatt air cooled argon laser and a 20 mwatt HeNe laser.
The laboratory is under the direction of Steven D. Douglas, M.D. and Donald E. Campbell, Ph.D., and under the supervision of Eric Riedel, MT, ASCP. The laboratory is designed to allow for flow cytometric analyses of samples prepared and analyzed by appropriately trained personnel from individual research labs who are charged flat fees for instrument use. The laboratory also offers a complete service that includes the design of experimental protocols, as well as the preparation and analyses of samples. The laboratory is also actively involved in the preparation of technical literature and cost analyses as related to the grant application process. Finally, the laboratory offers specialized services in mutiparametric cell sorting.