The former Director of the CAT Facility, Ryan Duggan, had a good thing going with a Google Group in cytometry, before Google decided to shut down that tool. He was hosting Google hangouts, called Cytometry on Air, to discuss all things flow cytometry, which attracted quite a few good people. The third session was about cell sorters available on the market. We decided to revisit this idea on the ChUG podcast, and so I’m happy to present the ChUG Podcast #14: Cytometry on Air #3: Cell Sorting!

The one thing to know about the market right now is that there’s a confidence crisis: the Bigfoot spectral cell sorter, launched in 2020, was just not ready for prime time and getting the instrument on track has been a long process. Early adopters of the platforms (such as us at the CAT Facility) have been burdened with the task of helping the manufacturer complete the project and iron out the problems. This is something that we don’t necessarily want to go through again, which is why most core facilities are very careful about what they’ll purchase. But in light of the planned obsolescence of the cell sorters (also discussed here), many are forced to make a purchase at a time that may not be optimal. But as you’ll see, things are not all that bad!

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