Mass Cytometry Resources

Technology

Mass cytometry is a single-cell detection technology based on inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry. Antibodies or other reagents tagged with rare metal isotopes can be used to probe the proteome and potentially over 100 available parameters can be simultaneously measure on a single cell without the issue of spectral overlap typical for classical, fluorochrome-based flow cytometry or tissue/cell autofluorescecne. The in house instrument is a CyTOF2.1 (Helios), capable of measuring 135 different mass channels (75-209amu) at a throughput of 1000 cells/sec.

Illustration of Helios workflow — Figure 3. Mass cytometry workflow. Cells labeled with metal-conjugated antibodies in solution (A) are injected into the nebulizer (B). They are aerosolized and reduced to single cell-containing droplets. The cells are directed to the ICP torch, where they are vaporized, atomized, and ionized in the plasma (C). The high pass optic removes the low-mass ions (D), resulting in an ion cloud that enters the TOF mass analyzer. The ions are separated based on their mass and are accelerated to the detector (E). The detector measures the quantity of each isotope for each individual cell in the sample; data is generated in an FCS format (G) and analyzed (H).

* Picture is taken from Fluidigm

Services

In special circumstances, we develop and support an entire mass cytometry based experimental workflow. We stand at your disposal for discussion using the mass cytometry technology in your work.

For Additional Information:

Carsten Krieg, Ph.D.
kriegc@musc.edu