Scientific equipment for mass cytometry

On 26 April 2016, the University of Bergen (UiB) held a kick-off seminar in connection with the new mass spectometer being ready for use. The seminar included an introduction to the technology and a presentation of how the equipment is used and its results.

Mass cytometry is a new technology and is often called the next generation of flow cytometry. While traditional flow cytometry can measure 10–15 proteins at the same time, mass cytometry can measure more than 35 proteins in thousands of individual cells. This makes it possible to carry out deeper and more thorough analyses of cells in human tissue. Using mass cytometry allows us to study many more checkpoints at the same time and also to identify with great accuracy which subgroups of T cells express the different checkpoints.

Sonia Gavasso, PhD and reseacher at Haukeland University Hospital explains in an article called  “A visionary call to action” at the company Fluidigm’s web, how mass cytometry is used in cancer research at the hospital, and how mass cytometri may improve immune therapy.

Dean Nina Langeland, UiB: Mass cytometry is likely to have a great potential in future routine diagnostics, and indicative of this, UiB affiliated researchers are currently running several clinical trials in cancer where mass cytometry is a part of the biomarker strategy