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2009 Accuri award for Conway researchers

Dr Gethin McBean, Dr Alice Vines and Dr Alfonso Blanco Fernández have won the 2009 Accuri Flow Cytometer Creativity Award Programme for their research outlining the use of a flow-cytometric method for continuous measurement of intracellular Ca²⁺ concentration. Their prize of an Accuri C6 Flow Cytometer System worth €30K and an associated service contract for one year will be a welcome addition to the core technology facility within UCD Conway Institute. 

Alterations in intracellular Ca²⁺ concentration are amongst the most rapid responses to a variety of stimuli in mammalian cells. In the nervous system in particular, responses occur within nanoseconds. A major challenge in intracellular Ca²⁺ analysis is to achieve measurements within this very fast time frame. To date, the dynamic intracellular Ca²⁺ concentration has been monitored by confocal microscope, plate based assays and spectrofluorometry, although there are issues with the number of cells analysed or gaps in recording due to the addition of compounds, with significant loss of detail of a rapid Ca²⁺ response.

The new generation of flow cytometers resolves this problem by allowing the addition of test compounds with continuous monitoring of thousands of cells, providing a method for highly accurate dynamic Ca²⁺ measurements.

This system was tested with commonly used Ca²⁺ modulating agents in C6 glioma cells. Thapsigargin (TG), a blocker of Ca²⁺ uptake into the endoplasmic reticulum (ER), causes a significant increase in the intracellular calcium concentration via ER emptying followed by Ca²⁺ entry via store operated Ca²⁺ channels (SOCC). This well established pathway can be partially inhibited by 2-APB, a blocker of SOCC. Both the increase with TG alone and the partial increase when co-incubated with 2-APB were observed with continuous recording along with calibration curves using a flow cytometer.

The Accuri Flow Cytometer Creativity Award Programme was established last year in an effort to support new and innovative research, and to help scientists expand the use of flow cytometers. Two winners are selected from the many highly-qualified abstract submissions received. This year, the second award was made to Dr. Karen M. Orcutt and Dr. Kjell Gundersen from the University of Southern Mississippi for their proposal to combine Qdot technology and microbial ecology to better understand the nitrogen cycle in the Northern Gulf of Mexico.

The award winners were announced at the 5th annual Irish Cytomety Society meeting held on November 17th & 18th in the Science Gallery, TCD. Accuri Cytometers were gold sponsors of the event. (Pictured L-R: Dr Gethin McBean, Dr Alice Vines & Dr Alfonso Blanco)