Flow Cytometry Shared Resource (FCSR) at UT Health San Antonio-MD Anderson-Mays Cancer Center
Introduction
Flow cytometry is one of the most widely used technologies in cancer research. Advances in this technology for the past decade have enabled the study of single cells labeled with more than 40 cell markers simultaneously. This is of great importance in performing high-dimensional immunoprofiling of cancer tissues from individual patients. The CPRIT Core Facility Support Award has recently allowed the UT Health San Antonio-MD Anderson-Mays Cancer Center FCSR to add a spectral cell analyzer, a spectral cell sorter, and an imaging cell sorter to its portfolio. These instruments provide our users with cutting-edge technologies to study individual tumor cells and the tumor microenvironment. We have also added new software for high-dimensional data analysis. Our goal is to build a state-of-the-art flow cytometry facility that serves the entire cancer research community in South Texas and supports the development of new cancer therapeutics.
Methods
Flow cytometry plays a vital role in basic and translational cancer research. The FCSR at UT Health San Antonio serves the community in two major categories: 1) instrument-based services, which include operator assisted cell analysis and cell sorting, and training and certification for instrument self-use. The FCSR offers comprehensive training in the technology to our users to ensure a high level of data fidelity and reproducibility, and 2) non-instrument-based services, which include consultation on experimental design and data analysis, preparation of figures for grant applications and journal publications, lecture-based seminars and workshops to keep our users informed of the latest advances in the technology.
Results
The FCSR serves more than 40 cancer research labs at UT Health SA. Over the years, we have built a strong user base with more than 200 individual users in South Texas and established collaborations with these research labs. In FY 2022, the FCSR supported 134 extramural grants with a total budget of $79,859,064 and contributed to 24 peer-reviewed publications. In addition, due to the growing demand at the UT Health San Antonio-MD Anderson Mays Cancer Center, the FCSR has recently opened up a satellite site to better meet the needs of our researchers on that campus.
Conclusion
The FCSR is an essential shared resource for the cancer research community in South Texas. We support the efforts of cancer researchers in both academic and industrial laboratories to better understand the tumor microenvironment and the immune response to cancer and in the discovery and development of new cancer drugs. We will continue to expand the UT Health San Antonio-MD Anderson-Mays Cancer Center FCSR to provide better access to cutting-edge instrumentation, and to provide the technical and scientific expertise to help advance cancer research objectives through flow cytometry.