Immunogenics and Flow Cytometry

ABSTRACT: IMMUNOGEONOMICS AND FLOW CYTOMETRY SHARED RESOURCE The Immunogenomics and Flow Cytometry SR (IMCF) is a hybrid core that provides access to state-of-the-art techniques such as mass cytometry and immunogenomics analysis of bulk and single cell next generation sequencing data coupled with a high utilization Flow Cytometry facility with a 30-year LCCC history. New immune monitoring capabilities were developed in response to investigator needs, particularly for the analysis of immune responses in preclinical tumor models and human clinical research. The immunogenomics component offers a full suite of immunogenomics techniques, including immune gene signature and pathway analysis, cell phenotype deconvolution, MHC haplotype prediction, neoantigen prediction, T cell and B cell repertoire profiling, and systems level analyses such as cytokine network analysis and integrated survival modeling. This is joined by an investment in CyTOF for expanded panel analysis of cellular phenotypes. This component currently supports correlative science for tissues being collected from eight immunotherapy trials and multiple in vivo animal models of cancer. In addition to these new capabilities, the facility also houses a full complement of highly used analytic flow cytometers and cell sorters for both mouse and human work, New purchases in addition the CyTOF are two new spectral analytic machines. Most important for the research community, all SR components have expert staff to support investigators in experimental design, sample processing, data acquisition, and downstream analysis. IMCF is led by Dr. Vincent, MD, an expert in immunogenomics and Dr. Fisher, PhD who has led the LCC Flow facility since 2010 and has over 30 years’ experience in flow cytometry. The budget requested ($211,126) is a small proportion of the total operating budget of $1.7M. Flow cytometry is a traditionally heavily used facility; 80 members were users in fiscal year 2019.