Dubeau-Laramée Geneviève, Rivière Christophe, Jean Isabelle, Mermut Ozzy, Cohen Luchino Y
Canadian Space Agency, St-Hubert, Quebec, Canada.
Cytometry A. 2014 Apr;85(4):322-31. doi: 10.1002/cyto.a.22427. Epub 2013 Dec 12.
A fiber-optic based flow cytometry platform was designed to build a portable and robust instrument for space applications. At the core of the Microflow1 is a unique fiber-optic flow cell fitted to a fluidic system and fiber coupled to the source and detection channels. A Microflow1 engineering unit was first tested and benchmarked against a commercial flow cytometer as a reference in a standard laboratory environment. Testing in parabolic flight campaigns was performed to establish Microflow1's performance in weightlessness, before operating the new platform on the International Space Station. Microflow1 had comparable performances to commercial systems, and operated remarkably and robustly in weightlessness (microgravity). Microflow1 supported immunophenotyping as well as microbead-based multiplexed cytokine assays in the space environment and independently of gravity levels. Results presented here provide evidence that this fiber-optic cytometer technology is inherently compatible with the space environment with negligible compromise to analytical performance.
基于光纤的流式细胞术平台被设计用于构建一种适用于太空应用的便携式且坚固耐用的仪器。Microflow1的核心是一个独特的光纤流动池，它与流体系统相连，并通过光纤与光源和检测通道耦合。首先，在标准实验室环境中，对一个Microflow1工程样机进行了测试，并与一台商用流式细胞仪作为参考进行了基准测试。在抛物线飞行试验中进行了测试，以确定Microflow1在失重状态下的性能，然后再在国际空间站上运行这个新平台。Microflow1的性能与商用系统相当，并且在失重（微重力）环境下运行出色且稳定。Microflow1在太空环境中且不受重力水平影响的情况下，支持免疫表型分析以及基于微珠的多重细胞因子检测。此处呈现的结果证明，这种光纤细胞仪技术与太空环境具有内在的兼容性，对分析性能的影响可忽略不计。
