Context
Flow cytometric cell sorting is a widely used technique for the purification of specific cell types from heterogeneous samples by electrostatic droplet charging. Operator protection from aerosols, potentially carrying bio hazardous sample constituents (e.g. HIV), generated during cell sorting experiments, is generally provided by placing cell sorting equipment in Class II Biological Safety Cabinets (BSC). The efficacy of this protection was evaluated, by running highly concentrated suspensions of fluorescent microspheres on a Becton-Dickinson InFlux cell sorter system under normal and failure mode conditions, with- or without a running BSC. In failure mode, high amounts of aerosol are produced because of (partial) obstruction of the “nozzle”. We used the Coriolis®μ air sampler system and counted fluorescent microspheres present in collected samples using flow cytometric analysis (BD SORP-LSRII).
