Modern optical microscopy provides powerful tools for studying biological samples varying from sub-cellular structures through cells and tissues to whole species. Effective use of these techniques, especially where quantitative imaging is important , requires in-depth knowledge about optics, spectroscopy, and image processing. The goal of this workshop is to provide that necessary background.
The course is intended for students and scientists who uses optical microscopy and would like to strengthen their knowledge and understanding of optical microscopy. It will provide the participants with the required tools for quantitative understanding of imaging and microscopy experiments.
The course does not require thorough background in mathematics or physics. The program is based on courses that are being taught for graduate students as well as on a broad range of scientific background.
Having a basic science background I got involved in the field of flow cytometry at the very beginning of the introduction of commercial machines on the market (end of the 1970-ties) and have build up a thorough expertise in flow cytometry from all viewpoints be it technical, physical, immunochemical, photo physical, biological or biomedical.
The field has evolved enormously. In the early days one needed to exhibit a thorough understanding of all the basic principles beyond the apparatus, otherwise one could not operate the machine properly and generate data. And the expertise of operators and staff members gradually increased in parallel with the ever increasing instrumental complexity. Nowadays the cytometers look like pushbutton systems but all the complexity of the machinery is still there and hidden in the software. One is now able to generate data without proper knowledge of what can go wrong and thus without being able to discern strange results from erroneous results.
As an analytical councilor I would stress the need for proper education and training and defend a type of student-mentor relationship for novices to be introduced in the field. Towards accreditation organisms it is also important to stress the special and typical status of the cytometry environment in that it is one of the only research type apparatus in the clinical laboratory field with an open architecture and user modifiable settings. It is deliberately so designed in order to accommodate a large array of applications. Quality assurance should focus on the type of application and can vary from "classical" QA of automated testing (CD4 counting, progenitor counting) to expertise testing such as is the case in a pathology environment (leukemia & lymphoma immunophenotyping).
As a European member I would also stress the need for consensus efforts and efforts for making the technique, instrumentation, applications and reagents more feasible (more cost-effective) for use in less privileged regions of the world
After obtaining my baccalaureate degree in biochemistry from UNC-Greensboro, I worked for over 10 years in several research labs learning techniques as diverse as cell culture, electron microscopy and cell electrophoresis. In 1987 Penn State purchased its first flow cytometer thanks to a NIH Sig grant. I was lucky to be the resident cell biologist in a lab of biophysicists, learning flow from lab members who pushed the technology to its limits. Shortly thereafter Penn State established a core flow cytometry facility and I became the lab manager. During this time I also coordinated five NASA rocket launches in White Sands, NM.
Right from the beginning I was encouraged to become a member of ISAC, and attended my first meeting in Asilomar. It became immediately obvious that the flow community was large, diverse, friendly and willing to share information at all levels. It still amazes me that with the ISAC meetings and the Purdue flow newsnet those of us running isolated flow facilities have access to the best brains in the business, available for the asking.
In 1995 the facility was lucky enough to become a part of the interdisciplinary Huck Institute for the Life Sciences which is dedicated to enhancing core facilities and funding cross-disciplinary faculty and research. This also increased the profile of the facility which now draws users from five colleges and our Materials Research Laboratory. In 2000 we purchased both a confocal and a digital microscope and added those services to the facility. Since Penn State's medical school is two hours away in Hershey with its own flow facility, most of our research base is non-clinical and some of it is even non-biological (nanoparticles, material surfaces).
My ISAC perspective springs directly from my experience providing services in a core facility. The facility serves a variety of researchers ....undergraduates, grad students, post-docs and PIs with a broad range of research interests. The job involves education and training, literature reviews, help with experimental design and provides a critical review for flow data prior to publication. I would like to expand ISACs efforts in this area by formalizing guidelines for data presentation and relevant statistics.
Secondly, I would work to recruit younger scientists into ISAC. I would make a direct appeal to core facility directors to encourage their students and post-docs to apply for travel grants, attend ISAC and publish in Cytometry.
My final reason for wanting to serve as a councilor is to try to repay the flow community and ISAC for the most exciting and interesting 20 years of my life. Thank you, ISAC.
Michael Keeney received his Fellowship, Institute of Medical Laboratory Sciences, in Hematology (FIMLS) in Scotland. He also has an Advanced Registered Technologist (ART) diploma in Hematology from the Canadian Society of Medical Laboratory Scientists.
Since 1992, Mike has worked as the Supervisor of technical operations of Hematology/Flow Cytometry at the London Health Sciences Centre in London, Ontario, and as an Associate Scientist with the Lawson Health Research Institute. He holds a certificate in Departmental Management from the Canadian Hospital Association. He is currently Vice-Chairman of the Hematology Committee for QMP-LS, and is also a consultant for the College of American Pathologists, Diagnostic Immunology Resource Committee.
Mike is a reviewer for Cytometry and Clinical Cytometry, and also sits on the editorial board. He is currently on the planning committees for the ISAC and CCS 2006 meetings.
His major research interests are in the area of rare event analysis. In collaboration with Rob Sutherland from Toronto and Jan Gratama from the Netherlands, Mike helped develop a clinical guideline for CD34 enumeration in hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (the ISHAGE guideline), which is now the most commonly used method for assessing mobilization and graft adequacy. More recently, Mike has been working on rare event analysis in solid cancers using both flow and laser scanning cytometry, including detection and characterization of circulating tumor cells and circulating endothelial cells.
Mike brings several skills to the committee. He has worked closely with various groups both in Europe and North America on standardization in many areas of flow cytometry. Mike has also been active in teaching, and is a faculty member of the Annual Clinical Course on Flow Cytometry. Mike has presented lectures throughout the world, including Korea, Hong Kong, Australia and many parts of Europe.
Selected Relevant Publications (of 72 total):
My goals and objectives as an ISAC Clinical Counselor will include:
Phil received a master's degree in microbiology from The Ohio State University in 1973 and joined Eli Lilly & Company as an associate biologist that same year. Phil has climbed through the ranks at Lilly to become a Research Advisor mainly through his successful leveraging of flow cytometry for drug discovery and development. Phil has co-authored over 45 peer-reviewed scientific articles and made multiple oral presentations. He has been a member of ISAC for over 25 years and has been an open advocate for promoting industrial scientists' research for mainstream recognition. Phil also serves on the GLIIFCA steering committee and is co-chair of the Indy Flow Users Group. Most recently, Phil has championed the use of flow cytometry for biomarker assays during clinical trials of new drug candidates.
I have been using flow cytometry and cell sorting for drug discovery and development for over 25 years and remain fully convinced of its unique place and value for cell biology research. Because ISAC is the center of excellence for this technology, I want our Society to prosper and grow in the future. Toward this goal, if elected, I will continue to endorse and promote membership into ISAC to all scientists, including those from both the academic and applied research sectors. Additionally, I would encourage these new members to take an active role in ISAC functions in order to infuse fresh ideas and enthusiasm into our organization's structure.
Dave Coder received his Ph.D. (1981) in Biology from the University of California, Santa Cruz, and became enamored and involved with flow cytometry when he attended the first Flow Cytometry Workshop at Los Alamos in 1983. Subsequently, he has worked in many fields of flow and image cytometry-research, academic, and commercial. He is the author of approximately seven dozen publications in cytometry, the biomedical sciences, and the applications of computers.
Since 2001 he has been an independent consultant in cytometry as well as an author and importer of books and photographs of Tuscany. Dave have served the Society in various capacities over the years, starting and editing the ISAC web site (1994-2000), serving as a member and chair of the Biosafety Issues Surveillance Committee (2000-2004), a member of the Finance Committee (2004-present), as well as various ad hoc duties.
Having served on the Finance Committee for the past two years, I'm aware of the challenges facing ISAC in meeting the purpose of the Society: To promote the development of analytical cytology; transfer of methodologies; and exchange of scientific and technical information.
In order to meet this goal, we need to have the resources to support the various activities of this international Society on a world-wide basis. We all benefit from interactions with colleagues on all continents. To meet theses challenges, we need to make good use of our current resources as well as expand sources of income to support our educational and scientific objectives. Ideally it would be good to have a Society that is financially self-sustaining.
I look forward to working with the members of the finance committee as well as members of Council recently elected to help insure that ISAC thrives and meets its goals for the future. There are many challenges, but they are ones that I feel I can meet and I will be honored to serve as Treasurer.
Alexander Nakeff is Professor of Internal Medicine and Director of the Flow Cytometry Core Facility, Henry Ford Health System (HFHS) in Detroit, Michigan, USA. He received his B.Sc. in Science and M.Sc. in Physiology at the University of Toronto and Ph.D. in Radiation Biology and Biophysics (1970) at the University of Rochester, NY. His post-doctoral studies were performed under Dr. van Bekkum at the Radiobiological Institute, TNO, The Netherlands. He joined the Section of Cancer Biology, Washington University, St. Louis, in 1972 as Director of the Core Flow Cytometry Facility, attaining the rank of Associate Professor in 1982. He then joined the Division of Hematology and Oncology at Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan as Professor of Internal Medicine and Director of the Flow and Image Cytometry Core Facility of the Comprehensive Cancer Center of Detroit (now the Karmanos Comprehensive Cancer Center) in 1986. In 1999, he joined the Drug Discovery and Development Program at the Josephine Ford Cancer Center, HFHS.
His main research interests have been in the regulation of hematopoietic stem cell proliferation and differentiation, with emphasis on megakaryocyte and platelet production and publication of the first paper applying flow cytometry to megakaryocytes in 1979. He has published over 70 peer-reviewed full publications and book chapters, including 3 publications and a review in Cytometry. His present research interests are in cytomics (flow cytometry and proteomics) to determine the molecular mechanism of action of new solid tumor-selective drugs at the proteome level.
He was elected ISAC Clinical Councilor in 2004 and is Co-Chair of the Organizing Committee for ISAC XXIII (2006), with special responsibility for the Congress budget. As a member of the ISAC Strategic Initiatives Task Force (2005), he is responsible for ISAC Organization, as well as serving as Chair of the Society Management Review Task Force. He has played key roles in organizing several ISAC Congresses (XIX & XX), served as Chair of both the ISAC Membership Services Committee (the latter responsible for formalizing the present ISAC Student Awards) and the ISAC Site Selection Committee. He founded and organized the "Under '40's Club” at the last four ISAC Congresses to help attract new, younger members to ISAC and organized and chaired the 3rd Samuel A. Latt meeting in Detroit in 2001 on “Genomics/Proteomics in Cancer” that has contributed to the present ISAC Strategic Initiatives effort. He has served on several NIH Special Review committees for flow cytometry, co-founded the Great Lakes International Image and Flow Cytometry Association (GLIIFCA) in 1991 (the best regional group of its kind in the US that is presently in its 15th consecutive year and focused on maximizing the participation of its young members). He has served as Treasurer of GLIIFCA for the past 3 years (responsible for an expanding positive treasury), as well as coordinator of its Exhibits portfolio, annual meeting organization and Chair of its Site Selection Committee.
It is important that several key initiatives be undertaken to ensure ISAC"s financial future and attainment of its strategic goals; these include:
From the perspective gained by serving on ISAC Council, I have come to appreciate the fragile nature, yet great strength, of the international base of ISAC and will commit to work enthusiastically and tirelessly to expand and strengthen our unique ties. I am honored to have been nominated for the position of Treasurer and will be pleased to serve you.
Attila Tárnok studied biology at the University of Hamburg, Germany, and graduated in biophysics in 1983; he achieved PhD in 1988 at the Institute for Biophysics and Radiation Biology (Horst Jung, Heinz Baisch, Thesis: Quantitative histology of the immune response to radiation therapy), of the University Hamburg.
Attila set up his first flow cytometry and cell sorting facility in 1988 at the Bernhardt-Nocht Institute for Tropical Diseases, Hamburg. In 1989 Attila moved to the GSF research center in Neuherberg, Munich (Michael Nüsse). He established the cell sorting facility and focused his research on irradiation induced micronuclei formation and chromosome analysis. In 1990 Attila was appointed to establish the independent cell sorting group at the Centre for Molecular Neurobiology, Hamburg. In 1995 he moved to the Medical Research Council, Hammersmith Hospital, London to set up and head the cell sorting and flow cytometry group, focusing research on thymal immunology and T-cell and endothelial cell function.
Since 1995 Attila is head of the research facility of the Pediatric Cardiology Department (Cardiac Centre, University of Leipzig, Germany). In 2001 he was appointed as Associate Professor, Privatdozent, for Immunology and in 2005 as extraordinary Professor at the University of Leipzig.
His present research is focused on multiplexed high-content analysis with flow and image cytometry. He is developing novel assays and concepts for cytometry in systems biology and cytomics and transfers technical achievements into the use in the clinical environment. Clinical and biological research areas include immunology of congenital heart disease, sepsis and shock responses, regenerative medicine and neuroscience. His additional activities include: collaborations with and councilor for biotechnology and instrument development companies.
Since 1995, Attila is heading the Research Laboratory (8 coworkers and 4 MD students), Dept. of Pediatric Cardiology, Cardiac Center, University of Leipzig. He is president of the German Society for Cytometry, DGfZ, and was before that for six years board member as vice-president and secretary. Attila is since four years member of the council and in different working groups of the medical faculty, University Leipzig. Attila is organizing international workshops on in the field of cytometry and is member of organizing committees of international and national congresses (e.g. Photonics West of the SPIE).
Since 1984, Attila is active in the field of flow and image cytometry. He is Associate Editor of Cytometry. Furthermore, he has been appointed reviewer and guest editor for Cytometry and other international technical and clinical journals. He is editor of a textbook on Clinical Cytometry appearing in 2006 with over 50 technical papers. He has published 70 papers in peer-reviewed journals, 41 as first or senior author (21 in Cytometry) . He published over 50 papers in proceedings and textbooks, among others in Current Protocols in Cytometry.
Ever since 1990, Attila has regularly attended the ISAC International congresses. Attila is long standing member of ISAC with more than 40 scientific presentations at ISAC congresses and served as tutor and session chair. Since 2003 he is Member of the Scientific Advisory Committee of ISAC. Attila is very active in teaching and organizing tutorials in cytometry and organizes interdisciplinary workshops (11 Leipziger Workshops, 4 International Workshops on Slide Based Cytometry, two annual meetings of the DGfZ with 200-300 scientists) and summerschools (European Summerschool 2003) on state of the art cytometry techniques, several of them under the patronage of ISAC.
In depth knowledge in the field of technical and application aspect of flow and image cytometry in clinical and research applications; secretarial and financial management capabilities; project management capabilities.
The International Society for Analytical Cytometry (ISAC) should fulfill its role as interface between established scientists and professionals, and students for analytical cytometry.
ISAC is the ideal inter- and trans-disciplinary society, harboring scientists from many disciplines ranging from engineering, mathematics, computer sciences, over physics, biotechnology, biology to medical sciences. In the post-genomic era with the emerging fields of systems biology and cytomics, cytometry as a technology is becoming increasingly important in basic and in applied sciences, industry research and diagnosis. This underlines the important role of ISAC in the future.
The major methodological focus of ISAC includes both flow and image cytometry. They are the key to cytometry and, as scientist who has moved to image and slide based cytometry without losing flow cytometry, I am standing for both directions. This includes also the methodological basis for present and future application areas from basic science to routine applications.
Although ISAC is based in the United States of America many groups dedicated to cytometry and to innovative developments in cytometry are active in other countries. As a person who has lived and worked in different countries I strongly support exchange and collaborations of the ISAC with national societies. The eastern European nations, but also young nations in other continents need to be paid particular attention to.
ISAC is the society that is dedicated to cytometry technologies. The transfer of technological knowledge between all disciplines is crucial for mutual understanding of the specialists. As technical councilor I will further support interdisciplinary exchanges. Activities that encourage cross-disciplinary communication are necessary. Improving communication is one key aspect to position the society as a central player and the reference organization for cytometry. This can be achieved by further promoting interdisciplinary workshops, courses and tutorials on technology transfer in but also outside the United States of America.
The influx of new students into the society who are dedicated to the technology and the concepts of cytometry is of crucial importance for the future of our society. This can be achieved by a strong educational program where novices can learn from the experienced, training courses and exchange trans-continental programs
Jeffrey H. Price, M.D., Ph.D., has 20 years of experience in image cytometry instrumentation and algorithm research. He earned his M.D. from Loma Linda University in 1985 and his Ph.D. in Bioengineering from U.C. San Diego in 1990, where he also received his postdoctoral training. In 1993 Dr. Price was appointed Assistant Project Scientist and, in 1996, Associate Research Scientist. From 1994 to 2004 Dr. Price directed the NSF-Whitaker Quantitative Imaging & Confocal Microscopy Resource in Bioengineering at UCSD.
In 1999 Dr. Price founded Q3DM Inc, which marketed his research group's high throughput microscopy inventions for cell-image-based screening. Q3DM was purchased by Beckman Coulter Inc in 2003. At Q3DM he first served as Chairman and CEO, and then CSO. In 2004 he co-founded Vala Sciences Inc, which develops and markets software and kits for cell-image-based assays. At Vala, he holds the positions of President and CEO. He was recruited to the position of Associate Professor at The Burnham Institute in 2004, where he is a member of the Signal Transduction and Stem Cells & Regeneration Research Programs. With its collaborators, Dr. Price's lab is focused on automated analytical microscopy research for tissue proteomics, tracking of cell migration and differentiation, and rare cell diagnostics.
Dr. Price has served as an associate editor of Machine Vision and Applications and refereed articles for Photonics Letters (IEEE/LEOS), the Journal of Microscopy, SPIE Optical Engineering and Cytometry. He has served as conference/session chair at the Fifteenth Cytometry Development Workshop, SPIE Photonics West/BIOS (1999, 2000, 2001, and 2002), CHI Intelligent Drug Discovery & Development (2003) and Association for Laboratory Automation, LabFusion 2004.
Dr. Price's contributions to ISAC and the journal Cytometry include the following:
Cytometry Articles Accepted
Cytometry Articles Published
ISAC Meetings
ISAC and the Cytometry journals collectively provide a unique scientific bridge between the technological innovations of cell measurement and the new research and clinical applications derived from them. Completion of the genomes of humans and an increasing array of other organisms provides a knowledge foundation that drives increasingly complex scientific questions about how intracellular components contribute first to the behaviors of cells and then to the organism as a whole. While current technologies like molecular arrays and mass spectrometry provide large scale whole-tissue ensemble data, new cytometry technologies will more directly elucidate intracellular molecular pathway details in the context of the intact cell living in a heterogeneous population in culture, or in the even more complex milieu of intact tissues. Imaging flow cytometry and image cytometry in 2D and 3D (and time) are among the technologies that are near their infancy in terms of the needed innovations in throughput and data analysis. The data generation rates in automated mage cytometry currently overwhelm the still-too-interactive analysis techniques. Yet new innovations in image cytometry instrumentation are likely to further increase acquisition speeds 10-fold or more. With 2D and 3D cell-by-cell measurements numbering in the hundreds. and continuing to expand via increased reporter multiplexing and additional fundamental imaging modalities, the challenges in advancing data analyses (e.g., data mining, pattern recognition and classification) are at least as great as those faced in creating new instrumentation.
These new technologies necessarily evolve in response to biological and clinical needs. The NIH Roadmap is expanding the use of chemical genomics screening techniques to the discovery of new molecules and pathways. Cancer and stem cell research questions increasingly combine information derived from molecular pathways, and cell migration and differentiation/dedifferentiation. Answering how molecules interact in stem cells to generate an organism or heal diseased/wounded tissues, as well as how what may be these same molecules fail to properly interact and give rise to cancer and other diseases, ultimately requires in situ analyses - or cytometry. Improving our understanding of how these intracellular mechanisms give rise to specific cellular behaviors will in turn create novel clinical diagnostics and treatments. I believe that ISAC has a unique opportunity to fulfill the role of technology translator by spanning cytometry technological innovations and novel biological/clinical applications. It would be an honor to participate in ISAC governance to facilitate rapid recognition, discussion and dissemination of these innovations to the scientific community.
For more than two decades I have been a member of the National Flow Cytometry Resource at Los Alamos National Laboratory, where new ground in flow cytometric technology and applications has been extensively explored. Over the last ten years I have developed, in close collaboration with Jim Jett, a compact, slow-flow system, capable of detecting individual phycoerythrin molecules (in solution) or measuring the size of individual DNA fragments ranging from 125 base pairs to nearly 500 kbp, typically using < 1 mW of laser power. This was a radical departure from most of my earlier career in which I focused on conventional cytometric instrumentation, but it has truly expanded my horizons and convinced me - more than ever before - that the future is absolutely wide open for new ways to apply flow cytometry, and to improve the technology.
Although I didn't know it at the time, my career in flow cytometry began in 1974, just after completing a BS in Biology at Penn State University, where I was working in Paul Todd's lab along with Dutch Boltz, Jim Wood and Jim Leary. One of my first tasks was to return a neglected Cytograph and a Cytofluorograph to functional service. Basically I disassembled both systems and combined them into one useful instrument. Since then I have worked inside many other systems and generally have found aspects I thought could be improved. Based on extensive experience working with a wide range of electronics equipment (beginning in 1963) my focus initially was primarily on the instrumentation and technology. However, what really excited me about flow cytometry was that the diverse technologies present in such systems could be used to address biological questions. As a result, I have always been highly motivated to ensure that the systems serve useful biomedical research applications, and not just demonstrate concepts.
After leaving Penn State I learned a great deal about many applications of the technology, working 2 years with Irwin Scher at the National Naval Medical Research Institute, followed by 6 years with Alan Rosenthal at the Merck Research Center with a primary focus on immunology. In 1985 I jumped at the offer to move to Los Alamos and work in the non-commercial group that has helped shape the instrumentation in many ways since the late 1960's. It has been extremely rewarding to be involved in many projects with the long list of great people at Los Alamos, as a member of the National Flow Cytometry Resource team.
While still at Penn State, in 1976, I attended the Fifth Engineering Foundation Conference on Analytical Cytology; that was the first organization that preceded ISAC in endorsing and encouraging the rapidly growing field of flow cytometry. Since then, I have participated in many other conferences beginning with the early EF series at the Asilomar Conference Center, continuing with SAC conferences that morphed into ISAC, and including most of the Cytometry Development Workshop sessions again held at Asilomar. I was also very fortunate to attend the First Joint Meeting of the Japan Cytometry Society and ISAC in 1997, in Iwate, Japan.
My primary strength lies in my overall grasp of the entire spectrum of parts in a complex cytometer including the fluidic/pneumatic systems, optics, lasers and detectors, data acquisition hardware, and the data processing software. In terms of software, I began with assembly language and Fortran on early DEC PDP-11 series computers, I've also dabbled some with C, but I have moved on to really enjoy programming with the high-level language IDL (Interactive Data Language). Based on what I've personally been involved with at Los Alamos over the last year - from which we expect to see numerous exciting publications in 2006 - I believe that Flow Cytometry, in particular and analytical cytology in general, is on the verge of a number of technological revolutions. I would like very much to participate more fully with ISAC to help that move forward.
Over the past 20 years incredible progress has occurred in all aspects of scientific endeavor, fueled broadly by technological development and evolution. One compelling example is that the cost of computer disc storage space has dropped from $30000/Gb in 1986 to the present level of $0.40/Gb! Although developments in the next few years are unlikely to be as dramatic as that, I believe there will be many technological improvements which will increase the performance and capabilities of our instruments while lowering their cost. Furthermore, I'm convinced that in many ways flow cytometry is uniquely capable of addressing important biological questions and will remain so for a long time. My goal is to remain personally involved with this evolutionary/revolutionary process and I see no better way than to be involved with ISAC as a Technical Councilor.
I have spent the last 26 years working in the field of cytometry. My career has been almost evenly divided among a large corporate entity (Coulter Corporation), two academic institutions (Purdue University and the University of Illinois), and my own technology company (iCyt Visionary Bioscience). I currently serve as the Chief Technical Officer for iCyt, which I founded in 1995, and as Associate Director for Technology at the University of Illinois Biotechnology Center. iCyt has produced numerous custom cytometry-related products. These include the X-Cyt clinical cytometry data management system, the Lyt 200 solid-state blue-green laser system, and a multi-channel, industrial cell sorting system.
My cytometry career began in 1979 when I joined Coulter Corporation. At Coulter I had the privilege of working under Bob Auer, one of the pioneers of commercial cell sorting technology. I also had the honor to know and work under Wallace Coulter, the inventor of the Coulter Counter, one of the most commercially successful cytometers in history. My work at Coulter included technical support, management of their cytometry customer support operations and oversight of their cytometry research instrument development program.
In 1989 I moved to Purdue University where I helped Professor Paul Robinson launch the Purdue University Cytometry Laboratories. I served as manager of the core laboratories and directed the cooperative programs with the Schools of Engineering. Significant contributions while at Purdue include numerous publications, assisting Steve Kelly with the inception of the Purdue mailing list, and the development of technologies that were ultimately licensed by Purdue for commercial use.
I moved to the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) in 1993 to succeed Julie Auger as the Director of the UIUC Biotechnology Center Cytometry Facilities. I collaborated on several projects with Professor Enrico Gratton, Director of the NIH Resource for biology-related fluorescence spectroscopy. One of those projects was the development of a cell sorter capable of fluorescence lifetime measurement. This instrument, developed in 1996, was among the first to incorporate an all-digital data acquisition system. I also collaborated with Professor Edward Voss to develop flow cytometry-based polarization/anisotropy techniques for investigating antigen processing mechanisms and pathways.
In 1995, while at UIUC, I began a private design and consulting company named Cytometry Services Inc. (now iCyt Visionary Bioscience, Inc.). Since then, iCyt has provided consulting services and custom instrument solutions to several instrument manufacturers, flow cytometry vendors and end users. iCyt is committed to fostering the development and practical application of novel, single-cell measurement and handling technologies.
I have been an active member of ISAC for most of my professional career. I have attended all Congresses except one since Congress XII was held at Cambridge in 1987. I have routinely participated in the technology workshops associated with the ISAC meeting and the annual Asilomar engineering meetings. I have served on several ad-hoc and formal ISAC committees. These include the Scientific Advisory Committee and the Planning Committee for the Congress XXIII to be held in 2006.
This is an exciting time to be a cytometrist and a designer of cytometry devices. The fields of genomics, cytomics and proteomics are experiencing explosive growth. This growth is producing an ever increasing demand for improved cytometry techniques, technologies and devices. For example, new higher-bandwidth, multiplexed-label systems are being developed and deployed into high content screening (HSC) applications. New quantitative imaging systems are providing more colors, improved resolution and faster analysis. Among the most interesting to me is the emergence of a new class of highly automated, parallel sorting (HAPS) devices. Microfluidic or traditional droplet HAPS devices promise to increase effective single cell sorting throughput by many times.
My primary objective as Technical Councilor would be to increase the health and relevance of ISAC by expanding membership among scientists, engineers and other professionals associated with cytometry-related technology development, such that technical advances can be rapidly deployed into a broad spectrum of biological research efforts.
The above objective would be accomplished with the following major specific actions.
Like most of the membership, there are numerous responsibilities to fill my time. I accepted the nomination for Technical Councilor because I believe ISAC has the opportunity to play a critical role in fostering the rapid development and deployment of important new technologies. ISAC can be a nexus where methods and technologies needed to support important developments in many areas such as HSC, clinical diagnostics, proteomics and stem cell-based therapeutics can meet. Success in this endeavor will require ISAC to actively seek connection and collaboration with a wide range of regulatory entities, professional and scientific societies, and commercial concerns. ISAC has traditionally been a multi-disciplinary society. This tradition makes ISAC a logical community where biologists, clinicians, engineers, chemists, physicists, and commercial interests can engage with one another to catalyze innovation. Achieving this will expand the membership and increase the relevance of ISAC in these important scientific and technological areas.
I accepted the committee's nomination for Technical Councilor because I believe I can infuse vision into ISAC's cross-disciplinary outreach and provide leadership for its growth in these critical technology areas. If elected, I will energetically apply my unique combination of skills and career experience to the Council position. My career has been cross-disciplinary in nature. I am an engineer who has also spent years running a busy cytometry core facility. I am honored by the nomination, and I will do my best to serve the membership if they choose to elect me. I am excited and enthusiastic about the future of cytometry and the role ISAC will continue to play in its ongoing development.
