The University of Debrecen’s Faculty of Medicine purchased a new cell sorting device. In addition to the faculty’s specialists, the equipment can also be used by other domestic and foreign researchers and clinicians as a service laboratory instrument. Three institutes of the Faculty of Medicine also contributed to the procurement of faculty equipment worth more than HUF 150 million.
The CytoFLEX SRT cell sorting device is equipped with more modern laser technology and is more sensitive than the old device. It is suitable for separating cells one by one, and also for researchers to separate hundreds, tens, or hundreds of thousands of cells with similar properties.
The device can also be used for cell analysis, for example, it is used to test the function of agents that inhibit cell division used in tumor therapy. The device is also suitable for analyzing human samples and has an aerosol extraction system, so specialists can even examine cells infected with viruses.
The machine is used in the projects and research of the Faculty of Medicine, for example, to investigate the functioning of the interleukin 15 receptor, which plays a role in immunological memory. It is also used in important international collaborations by domestic and foreign researchers conducting biomedical research. The University of Debrecen is the coordinator of the Hungarian Node of the European Research Infrastructure Consortium called Euro-BioImaging. The service laboratory accredited by the European organization is located in the Institute of Biophysics and Cell Biology of the Faculty of Medicine, where, in addition to the appropriate infrastructure, the necessary expertise is also available.
The acquisition of the device is the first step in the instrument exchange program of the Faculty of Medicine. The exchange of the old device and the purchase of the new equipment was a joint initiative of the institutes of the faculty, the Institute of Biophysics and Cell Biology, Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, and the Institute of Immunology. The three main user institutes contributed a total of approximately 15 million forints to the faculty investment of more than 150 million forints
– explained László Mátyus, dean of the Faculty of Medicine.
The instrument exchange program will continue next year at the Faculty of Medicine. As part of this, the Department of Anatomy has already started purchasing an electron microscope.
(unideb.hu)
