Suspension mass cytometry (SMC) uses time-of-flight (TOF) mass spectrometer-coupled flow cytometers (known as CyTOFs) to allow “deep” profiling of single cells in heterogeneous populations.  Antibodies (Ab) or other cellular probes are tagged with heavy metals (atomic mass 89-209) rather than fluorochromes, avoiding “spillover” problems that limit extensive multi-plexing in flow cytometry.  Currently up to 60 different markers can be detected in a single assay.

We operate two 3rd-generation mass cytometers, known as “Helios” to perform high parameter immune profiling of human or mouse cells in suspension after they have been labelled with metal-tagged Abs or other probes.  Here are some important factors you should consider in designing your SMC pilot or study.

SMC Services

This DIY option is for labs who have invested in their own reagents and have the trained staff to perform upstream sample preparation and labelling for SMC. We will run your stained samples on our Helios instruments for an hourly fee, $135/hr for academic labs (booked through iLab).

We can train you to use best practices for flow and mass cytometry sample preparation. Flat fee of $200 for academic labs, booked through iLab. Contact Tina Chen if you have any questions.

We provide computational data analysis pipelines that use dimensionality reduction and cell clustering algorithms for unbiased identification of cell clusters in high dimensional space. To assess your needs please contact Tina Chen to schedule a consultation.

Want preliminary data to support grant applications or small datasets for a publication? We can perform small-scale SMC pilots in which we stain your samples with our validated protocols and immune profiling panels for mouse cells or human cells.

Contact Tina Chen if you would like a cost estimate and/or to schedule your pilot study.