Whitepaper: Isolation of stably transfected fluorescent cells with the S3™ Cell Sorter

The S3e Cell Sorter demonstrates its utility in performing high purity sorts of adherent cells that express intercellular florescent proteins…

Many fields of research, from immunology to neurobiology, require the isolation of cells based on extracellular or intracellular phenotypes. A way to accomplish this with exquisite accuracy is through fluorescence-activated cell sorting (Arun 2005, Maric and Barker 2004).

This technology allows researchers to isolate live cells based on the expression profile of one or multiple proteins of interest. Cells can be identified by using antibodies conjugated to fluorophores or by expressing fluorescently tagged proteins. Until recently, cell sorters were complicated, expensive, and typically required an experienced operator in a core lab setting. The S3 and S3e™ Cell Sorters, however, can be run by any researcher due to key automated features such as the AutoGimbal™ System and ProDrop™ Technology. Sorts can be carried out reliably and with high purity. Here we show that stably transfected GFP+ HEK 293 and RFP+ HEK 293 cells can be sorted to greater than 98% purity from a mixed population using the S3 Cell Sorter.