To schedule time on an instrument, use the on-line calendar. For consultation on experimental design or interpretation of results, or for training to use any of the instruments in the facility, you can call Michele Black at 685-3014 or email her at mblack2@u.washington.edu , or call Thane Mittelsteadt at 543-7006, email thanem27@uw.edu.

Regular Business Hours:

Monday - Fri day 9:00am - 5:00pm

Rates:

The facility is intended to be self-supporting; charges are for instrument time only. The following rates are for UW accounts; non-UW accounts add a 15.6% surcharge for UW overhead:

Time is billed to valid UW Budget numbers or PO for external users.

FACsAria Assisted Sorting: $103.00/hr.

FACsAria After Hours Sorting: $76.00/hr.*

FACSCanto: $62.00/hr.

FACSCantoII: $66.00/hr.

FACScan: $34.00/hr.

LSR II: $71.00/hr

FlowJo site License: $264.00/year

Computer use: no charge

* Must be trained by staff prior to being granted after hours access

Charges for time are rounded up to the nearest quarter hour. Rates are effective 12-1-12.

Sorting may be scheduled between 9:00 A.M. to 5:00 P.M. (extended time available for trained after-hours users) Monday through Friday or by special arrangement with the operators. The facility also has multiple analyzers that can be used at any time. All users MUST be trained to operate these instruments and those who need to use the facility in off hours can be granted proxy card access. For information, please call the facility at 543-7006.

 

Account Setup

All new users need to complete the New User Form prior to gaining access to the facility and cytometers. The Staff will set up a new user account once the form is completed. The facility is accessible to all researchers at the University of Washington as well as users from other institutions. Please refer to the Rates and Hours for cost breakdown.

All users need to provide a current Budget # or PO# in order to set up an account. It is the users responsibility to enter that number in the Billing computer each time they use an instrument and to ensure that if the Budget # expires that they provide a replacement #.

Training

Training on the cytometers is done by one on one instruction with the facility staff. It is most successful when the user has samples that they would like to analyze to customize the training to the individual. Users that are new to this facility but have previous cytometry experience still need to go through a brief orientation to become familiar with the Cell Analysis Facility operational practices. To set up training use the on-line calendar to book the instrument that you would like to use (see Scheduling for more information). If you are unsure of what instrument you need contact the facility or visit the Instrumentation page for information about each of the cytometers capabilities.

Training for sorting requires that you first have approval to sort. Please refer to Sorting Requirements prior to scheduling a sort.

We aim to train all user so that they are able to run the cytometer independently but are always available to help if needed.

After Hours Training

Users who wish to gain after hours access need to complete additional training. After hours access requires the user to have a Health Sciences Building Prox card. This is issued through the users Home Department, the facility cannot grant access without this card. Please plan ahead! Obtaining access can take several days and occasionally the building management system does not get the card activated on the first try. To verify that a card is active for the facility the user must attempt to open the main facility door after 5:30PM or weekends.

Steps to getting after hours access:

1. Contact facility staff and schedule an after hours training session. You will need to book this time on the instrument calendar for the instrument you are planning to use.

2. Bring your prox card! We cannot give you access without the prox card #.

3. After training, give your card number to Michele Black in person or through email.

4. Check that the card is active prior to needing access to the facility afterhours.

Gaining after hours sorting access requires demonstrating proficiency durring several sorts with staff supervision.

 

There are several ways to access your flow data.

The computer lab inside the facility has 4 iMAC's that are free to use to analyze data. Each workstation has the latest version of FlowJo. There is one PC in the computer lab with MulitCycle AV and BD FCAP Array sorftware.

On the Mac's, you can connect to the server through the "Go" menu and then “Connect to server". Select the cellanalysis.immunol.washington.edu share point and enter your user name and password.
Select the share that corresponds with your user name and then click on the CAF Data folder.
Data older than 6 months is moved to the Archive folder. Follow the same directions to access the server but choose the Archive share instead of your user name share and then scroll to your folder in the user list.

To access data from outside of the facility or from the PC use an FTP software platform to connect to the server Host Name: cellanalysis.immunol.washington.edu  use your user name and password to retrieve your data.

Free FTP software packages
For Mac: Cyber Duck free FTP
For PC: WinSCP free FTP