The cell sorter is housed at the campus of the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine in a room dedicated to cell sorting within a BSL2 laboratory of the spokesperson. This room is equipped with climate control and access to external air pressure to meet the needs to operate a cell sorter, e.g. a stable temperature to avoid excessive heat, which might disturb the sorting process, and noise reduction, respectively.

Trained personnel with extensive experience in cell sorting and operating and maintaining this equipment are available at the Laboratory of Immunology. They stand in for maintenance, quality control, basic training of new users and follow up of biosafety issues and other legislation.

Researchers who want to make use of the equipment can send a request by E-mail to prof Devriendt. He is responsible for the equipment and training of persons. If only few sorts are planned, they will be performed under his guidance. If the researchers plan to regularly sort cells, he/she will receive a training and will obtain access to a dedicated online calender which allows the researcher to reserve time slots on the cell sorter. Usage costs will consist of consumable use. In case of costs that are in surplus, these will be divided among the users according to their usage time and the number of times they used the cell sorter. This can be deduced from the reservations in the calendar. This usage plan has been agreed among the supervisor and these co-supervisors which most frequent use the equipment.

Recently, Ghent University stimulated the formation of Core Facilities and launched Core Facility Management Software. We already stepped in the Flow Cytometry Core Facility of the university and implemented the Core Facility Management Software for the faculty flow cytometer. In the near future, we foresee to do same for the cell sorter.