Caltech Flow Cytometry Facility

Today HOY - #Latinflow2020 Our sort operators will be tuning into this international conference Join in! *the conference is held primarily in Spanish #representation #flowcytometry

Dear Flow Cytometry Users, In light of recent discussion with EHS at Caltech, and our observation that there has been backsliding into old habits as the pandemic wears on, we wanted to let you know of some changes and remind you of policy when discarding biohazardous waste and materials after using shared instrumentation. Full waste bottles must be properly emptied and disposed of by the user who fills them during their run. Full instrument waste bottles must be decontami...nated by removing the bottle from the instrument, treating with fresh bleach to 10% of the volume for 30 minutes, then disposing of the liquid in the sink drain while running water. The sink should be rinsed afterward. Users must take all used gloves; disposable labcoats; used tubes; used plates back to their own labs for disposal. There is only one user permitted in shared instrumentation rooms at one time. If you require a special exception, please contact Facility Manager Rochelle Diamond, [email protected] to coordinate. These steps are critical for the safety of all users of shared instrumentation and Facility staff. Waste left behind can be of unknown origin and handling it could pose a danger to staff who come in contact with it. Additionally, transmission of COVID-19 via surfaces is still being researched and until it is better understood, it is best for the safety of all to take extra precaution. When using shared resources, please also remember Caltech's Honor Code - there is an expectation that members of the Caltech community who are using shared instrumentation will follow the policies set forth, with adherence to the honor code in mind. This means responsibility and accountability for cleaning up and disposing of waste produced by experiments. We appreciate your consideration and cooperation.

The COVID Cytometry Project is in the works with the aim to have an open biorepository immunophenotyping data from COVIC-19 patients, freely available and widel...y shared. We have support from the major academic flow cytometry societies, a couple of data repositories, commercial vendors as well as most importantly individuals who are volunteering their time to make this happen as fast as we can. We also have an opportunity to do some truly unique data analysis of cytometry data and make this all freely available as well. Some professional PR folks are donating their time to get an announcement out, however this is is a few weeks away as we need to get some of the infrastructure in place. In short we are building it with the hopes that people will come when its announced (and have somewhere to go to). In the meantime, if there is anyone reading this who is interested, we could certainly use more help from flow experts and those who think this has the beginnings of a good idea. We think some work can be done on sharing (and where possible standardizing) panel design, guidance on sorting protocols, and how to best get the cytometry community behind open COVID-19 data sharing - as is being done for other technology platforms and efforts (e.g., https://nextstrain.org/ncov/global, https://opencovidpledge.org, https://www.who.int//solidarity-clinical-trial-for-covid-1). If there is anyone reading this who would like to lend a hand in getting the word out and promote this, has ideas to share, or can help (including in ways we have not even thought of yet), please drop me a note. Kind regards, Ryan Brinkman, on behalf of The COVID Cytometry Project Distinguished Scientist, BC Cancer Professor, Medical Genetics, UBC [email protected]

ISAC President Andrea Cossarizza and his team in Modena, Italy published yesterday an article in Cytometry Part A detailing their findings of the first flow cytometry analysis of the SARS-CoV-2 virus that causes #covid19. They have been working tirelessly for the past several weeks to combat the pandemic, which has now claimed nearly 3,000 lives in their home country alone. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/d/full/10.1002/cyto.a.24002

We love to see when our facility users get their work published in Nature Methods! What an accomplishment! We are happy to have been able to help with the #FlowCytometry #advancingsciencetogether @ California Institute Of Technology - California Structure

Our fearless leaders Dr. Ellen Rothenberg and Rochelle Diamond presenting the poster about the services our lab has to offer!

Instagram is really powerful for making work accessible to people outside of the lab. It's important to post not only because the science is important, but because we need to encourage the new generation to pursue science and medicine and guide them correctly so that they know that science doesn't happen in isolation. Make sure you're following us on Insta @caltechcyto

Science Magazine wrote about UC's Academic Researchers and their fight for a union, and underlined what having a contract means for workers: "...persuading peop...le of the merits of unionization was not difficult, Priest says. That’s due in part to the proven efficacy of Local 5810. The union has negotiated a number of improvements in UC postdocs’ working conditionsincluding higher pay, 24 guaranteed vacation days, and 4 weeks of paid parental leave. Academic Researchers, on the other hand, lack all of those benefits and others beside." #UCBargainNow See more

To: The Caltech Community From: Thomas F. Rosenbaum Sonja and William Davidow Presidential Chair and Professor of Physics Date: January 15, 2019... Re: Update: Partial Government Shutdown As the partial federal government shutdown enters a record fourth week, Caltech operations continue apace, but future negative consequences remain a possibility. The most significant impact is on JPL. Prior to the shutdown, laboratory management worked with NASA to maximize the available funding for JPL’s tasks. To date, JPL has been able to avoid furloughs, but may have to adjust staffing levels if the shutdown continues into February. With regard to campus-based activities, the National Institutes of Health, the Department of Defense, and the Department of Energy are unaffected by the shutdown. By contrast, the National Science Foundation and the Department of the Interior, which funds the U.S. Geological Survey, are officially closed. Investigators with active NSF awards, or active awards from other agencies affected by the partial shutdown, should continue to operate projects within the limits of the awarded funds and their associated guidelines. For campus-based grants, cash flow issues associated with the partial shutdown will be covered by the Institute. NSF and other affected agencies will not issue additional funding increments until the shutdown is over. For scholars preparing to submit proposals, NSF and other agency proposal submission systems remain operational and most proposal deadlines remain in effect. However, NSF and other closed agencies will not review submitted proposals, issue any new awards, or provide agency approval for new activities that may be required under existing grants, contracts or agreements. All federal reporting deadlines also remain in effect throughout the partial shutdown. Any Caltech investigator who receives instructions from a closed funding agency to stop work should immediately contact the Office of Sponsored Research. The Office of Sponsored Research remains ready to address your additional concerns as they arise. We will continue to monitor the situation closely and I will report back to you if significant developments occur.

Dr. David Baltimore of Caltech is quoted in this article.

We are the Flow Cytometry Facility at Caltech - From left to right: Diana Perez, Dr. Ellen Rothenberg, Rochelle Diamond, Patrick Cannon, Jamie Tijerina - #FlowFam #caltechcyto #flowcytometry

We will see you all today at in BI at the seminar! Learn how you can use #FlowCytometry in your lab. Refreshments at 12:30pm, Talk at 1pm.

Jamie Tijerina comes to us with nearly a decade of experience in Flow Cytometry. She primarily operates the Sony SY3200 Cell Sorter, as well as our Aria IIu and Fusion. She is a @drexeluniv graduate with a degree in Biological Sciences + MBA and is certified as a Specialist in Cytometry SCYM(ASCP) @ascponelab. - - "It's my goal to make a trip to sort in the Facility the easiest part of a researcher's day. We are here to help people get their work done, and done well." -Jamie

Patrick Cannon is the Caltech Flow Cytometry Facility's newest addition to our staff and we are glad to have him here in the facility. He is a @ucla graduate with a degree in Biomedical Engineering and can help you with your sorting and analysis needs here. - - "The capabilities of the flow cytometers inspire me and make me look forward to the Facility's ability to assist labs and advance research." -Patrick

Cyto U will have a Live Webcast on Wednesday, July 11 at 12pm Eastern (U.S. & Canada) Engineering Synthetic Immunity to Cancer and Beyond Presented by: Michael... Milone Associate Professor of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania Philadelphia, PA This webinar will provide an overview of engineered T cell adoptive immunotherapies that utilize synthetic immunoreceptors termed chimeric antigen receptors (CARs). Topics to be covered include the design of CAR-T cells, approaches to preclinical assessment of efficacy and toxicity and the clinical application of this technology to the treatment of malignant and autoimmune disease. http://cytou.org/store/seminar/seminar.php?seminar=112378

Need sort time? We still have a few appointments open this month