In order to minimize the amount of users/core staff in the core lab areas, core staff will continue to regulate the schedule to ALL instruments during this time. Core staff will be onsite on a rotating schedule with 2-3 people per day, as needed. We will operate similar to the weeks leading up to “Maintenance Mode”.

Priority will be given to COVID-19 research and long-term/essential projects. Please contact Cheryl Kim, ckim@lji.org to discuss and review SOPs, and to plan for these experiments and determine if additional resources are needed. Our vendors, both sales and application support, have been really helpful to expedite any resources that are needed for COVID-19 research.

For any experiments for live acquisition or cell sorting of COVID-19 samples from convalescent or acute patients classified as BSL-2 or BSL2+ level by the IBC, or any samples classified as BSL-2/BSL2+, we will be taking extra precautions to ensure the safety of all users and core staff. The Fusion and S6 will be mainly used for COVID-19 projects daily and will be ongoing. The only exception for these sorters will be for long-term/essential experiments that are classified as BSL-2+ that require use of a BSC. Please be aware of the signage posted in the core lab while these experiments are in progress.

Guidelines and Procedures

For ALL Cell Sorting reservations:

  • • All sorting reservations need to be pre-approved by core staff before reserving the time in Infinity. Contact core staff by emailing flow@lji.org to confirm your sorting experiment. Please note: it is not sufficient to reserve in Infinity as usual and we will be contacting you if there is a scheduling conflict for priority experiments.
  • • We will limit the number of core staff and users in each of the sorting areas at a time for distancing purposes. Only one sort experiment at a time can be performed on the following sorters:
  • o Aria-4 Fusion and Symphony S6 (priority for COVID-19 experiments) or the FACSMelody
  • o Aria-1 or Aria-2, Aria-2 or Aria-3, Aria-3 or Aria-5
  • • We would also like to limit contact with the users, unless necessary. We will ask users to drop off sort samples on our lab bench in the sorting suite.
  • o Please leave your contact info so core staff can contact you for any additional information or if any issues come up.
  • o Email or leave a detailed experiment plan including # of samples, sample name, complete panel, and outline of plots and gating strategy, # of cells needed to sort.
    Please let us know if settings are identical to a previous experiment.
  • o Please leave samples, compensation controls, experimental controls, appropriate number of collection tubes, additional sort buffer, additional collection buffer.
  • o It is important that you come ON TIME as scheduled and finish before or at your reserved time.
  • o We will be testing different options for remote access, so users can see gating strategy live to make adjustments to sort gates.
  • • For any cell sorting experiments that require the user to stay in the lab during the sort, i.e.
    COVID-19 projects, or any hands-on sorts, users will be required to wear the appropriate PPE, specifically for BSL-2/BSL-2+ sorts.
  • o All users and core staff are required to wear masks.
  • o For BSL-2/BSL-2+ sorts, users will be required to wear lab coats, gloves, and a mask.

 

For ALL Analyzer reservations:

  • • Please reserve the time in Infinity, pending staff approval, and contact core staff by emailing flow@lji.org to confirm your analyzer experiment. Please do not come and run an experiment without scheduling and confirming your time!
  • • We will limit the number of core users in the analyzer room at a time for distancing purposes and will block off the remaining instruments once the schedule is at capacity. The following instruments can be scheduled in the following combinations:
  • o LSRFortessa and LSRII-1/LSRII-2 and Canto II
  • o LSRFortessa and LSRII-2 and FACSCelesta and LSRII-3/Canto II
  • o LSRFortessa and LSRII-1 and LSRII-3/Canto II
  • • It is important that you come during your scheduled time and to finish before or at your scheduled end time.
  • • Please use gloves while working on any instrument.
  • • Only one user per instrument is allowed to acquire samples at a time, no small groups.
  • • Please contact core staff at flow@lji.org ahead of time if you require assistance during your experiment, i.e. help with instrument settings for larger panel, so we can schedule accordingly.
  • • Please see additional cleaning procedures posted to sanitize instrument area AFTER your experiment is finished.

 

For CyTOF reservations:

  • • Please reserve the time for CyTOF acquisition OR cell preparation/conjugations in Infinity, pending staff approval, and contact core staff by emailing flow@lji.org to confirm your experiment.
  • • Only one person is allowed in the CyTOF lab at a time.
  • • Please see additional cleaning procedures to sanitize lab area after your experiment.

    •  

    Additional Information:

    • • Core staff will sanitize all common work areas daily.
    • • We will not schedule any new user training during “Expanded Research Mode”.
    • • We will be removing any extra lab chairs to limit the number of users in the analyzer room at a time.
    • • All users and core staff are required to wear masks in the core facility.
    • • No external users are being given badge access or entry into the building/core facility.

     

    Contact:
    – Cheryl Kim: ckim@lji.org / 858-752-6509