I do not understand the technical details of you question (I am a chemist), however you could have a look to pages S45-S47 of the SI of our recent publication ( http://pubs.acs.org/doi/suppl/10.1021/jo500140y/suppl_file/jo500140y_si_001.pdf ) to see few figures produced by Accuri C6 (so they we good enough for a chemical journal). The pictures were produced by our colleague at the Dept. of Biology, who is on maternal leave now, so I am sorry, I cannot ask for any more details, but there should be a lot of other users... And to be honest, to me, as a spectroscopist, was more strange that you can't freely choose the wavelengths to examine and detect the cells, but that seems to be OK for biologists.

Hi Robert,

We use a C6 for basic flow cytometry and find it's a good work horse with one or two weaknesses. With regard to reliability, we do get blockages (we work primarily on luekocytes and fibroblasts) but I don't think this is any more than other flow cytometers I've used - it pays to ensure all shut down washes are carried out by anyone who uses it!

The lack of PMT adjustment is okay, because the range is so wide - it's 7 logs of fluorescence. Because the machine is digital, as long as you have appropriate controls, things like compensation can be adjusted for in analysis afterwards. The software is generally okay and you can produce publication quality images, though we also have licenses for other programs in the dept (eg. FlowJo). I find the C6 software perhaps a bit slow and cumbersome, especially if one has large files, but it does it's job. If you're measuring CFSE-type proliferation assays, then like many programs, it doesn't give a really in depth analysis.

The major weakness I've found is cell cycle analysis, say with propidium iodide. The C6 doesn't seem to have a switch to a linear data collection mode (or at least I've never found it!), so other machines that do have much greater sensitivity for this type of assay. Machines like the really old FACSCan and FACSCalibur seem much better for this.

Hope that helps.

Eddie

Dear colleagues,

many thanks for sharing your experience and your insights! @Stephanie: I am glad that you mentioned the tech support issue! I quietly assumed that BD offers the same kind of service for all of its machines. @Eddie: thanks for mentioning the issue with the lack of linear scales during accquisition, may be important for our planned internalization experiments as well! Again, thanks a lot to all of you for your time and effort!

Hello Dr. Lindner,

ACEA Biosciences has launched the NovoCyte Flow Cytometer this year, which offers excellent performance in a stable and easy-to-use system for a very affordable price. It's available with 1 - 3 lasers and up to 15 parameters, with or withoug autosampler, however, everything is truely upgradable (e.g. start with a 2 laser system and upgrade to the third laser later). The software is also easy to use, and you don't need third party software for data evaluation (but you can use it, if you want). Information can be found at http://www.aceabio.com/novocyte/novocyte-index.html or at http://www.ols-bio.de/zellkultur-zellanalyse/flow-cytometry-novocyte/269/novocyte-flow-cytometer (OLS is the German distributor of the instrument).

Please contact me if you need additional information!

Regards, Silke Schwengberg

Our Center presently has a a BD FACSCanto II flow cytometer, which was rented on an 8-y basis, with the option to keep it for free after that period. This formula, which includes full risk coverage, was very statisfying.