Cell Sorting and Analysis Using the Fluorescence Activated Cell Sorter IV

Abstract

The department of laboratory medicine at Barnes Hospital, St. Louis, Missouri, uses a Becton-Dickinson Fluorescence Activator Cell Sorter IV for their cell sorting and analysis. The FACS is used three to 4 times a week to analyze from thirty to 96 samples at a time. Unfortunately, the FACS is located at the medical school, and the laboratory technicians have to walk back and forth every time cells are to be sorted and analyzed. To remedy this time waste, a way to connect the FACS and the PDP-11/24 in laboratory medicine was needed. A data listening program (FACLSN) was written on the Microbiology PDP-11/24, where the FACS is located. FACLSN treats the FACS as a terminal and accepts the data as the cells are sorted. The data is then dumped on a scratch disk on the PDP-11/24. The data needs to be in ASCII form rather than binary so that the data may eventually end up on the PDP-11/24 in laboratory medicine. Once the data is in ASCII form, it can be easily copied to the VAX and then transferred to the PDP-11/24, where the data is finally analyzed by a data analysis program (FACS).