The New Jersey Medical School (NJMS) is home to a large number of clinical and basic scientists all working towards the common goal of mitigating the global health problem from Tuberculosis (TB) through the development of novel vaccine candidates, new drugs and rapid diagnostics. The research program of several of these TB investigators would greatly benefit if access to sorting viable M. tuberculosis (Mtb)-infected cells and live M. tuberculosis bacteria is available in the Biosafety Level 3 (BSL3) facility at NJMS. Toward achieving this resource for the BSL3 facility on campus, six highly productive and NIH funded investigators have joined together to submit this Shared Instrument Grant proposal for the purchase of a BD FACSAria II cell sorter. Due to the biohazardous nature of live M. tuberculosis studies a "dedicated" instrument is requested. The new FACSAria will be housed in the BSL3 facility in the Centre for Emerging and Re-emerging Pathogens at NJMS and will be operated and maintained by an experienced flow cytometry technician, Ms. Angelika Batista. The Principal Investigator, Dr. Padmini Salgame will provide scientific oversight and Dr. Patricia Fitzgerald-Bocarsly, Scientific Director of the Flow Cytometry Core facility will provide administrative oversight. Initially, the FACSAria will be primarily utilized by the applicant group of six TB researchers at NJMS. However, we anticipate increased usage of the instrument since new TB investigators are expected to be recruited to NJMS in the near future. The BD FACSAria cell sorter is a benchtop sorter and is thus convenient for BSL3 housing. This instrument does not require special room requirements or years of technical expertise to be fully operational. It is easy to operate and provides superior performance in high-speed cell sorting and multicolor analysis. The self-contained fluidics cart supplies air pressure and vacuum eliminating the need for an external source. This feature allows the instrument to be readily adapted for use in the BSL3 facility without the special and costly facility requirements of a traditional high-speed flow cytometer. The BD" Aerosol Management Option (AMO) is a device that provides additional aerosol management and removal within the sort chamber area. Comprehensive sort monitoring and clog detection are standard integrated software features that make the FACSAria cell sorter easy to use. Overall, the FACSAria is extremely well suited for operation in a BSL3 facility for sorting infected cells and bacteria. Public Health Relevance: Tuberculosis remains a serious threat to global health and multi drug resistant TB is reaching crisis proportions in many parts of the world. The assembled team of investigators of this SIG has a common research focus in developing vaccine candidates, novel drugs and diagnostics that will aid in reducing the TB burden world wide. The research of these investigators involves isolation and analysis of viable cells from M. tuberculosis-infected animals and sorting of live M. tuberculosis bacteria. The success of their program would be greatly enhanced with the acquisition of a "dedicated" high speed Flow Cytometer in the BSL3 facility.
NIH ExPorter
NIH ExPorter