SRL Best Practices, Part 3: Training & Education

About the Presenters

Michele Black
Technical Director
Cell Analysis Facility
University of Washington

Michele Black has been working in the field of cytometry for 20 years. She work at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center's Flow Lab as the senior flow cytometry specialist from 1996 to 2013. For the past fourteen years, Michele has been the technical director of the Cell Analysis Facility at the University of Washington. She has been an active member of ISAC since 1996 and has served on both the Shared Resource Laboratory Task Force and the SRL Services Committee. She is committed to providing quality flow cytometry services and education to researchers while increasing access to advanced technologies. She supports research activities while maintaining a fiscally-sound core that consistently provides affordable, high-quality service.

James Marvin
Director Flow Cytometry Core Facility
University of Utah

James Marvin has spent virtually his entire career within a flow cytometry shared resource setting. In 2001 James joined the bustling flow lab at the University of Chicago under the tutelage of Julie Auger and Ryan Duggan. This was the era in which cell sorters were a bit more “hands on,” and a firm understanding of the underlying hardware was essential on a daily basis. Next, James moved on to Northwestern University to “pick the brain” of Dr. Charles Goolsby. In addition to the routine aspects involved in a flow core, a transition to more clinical assays was pursued during this time. Through a strong collaboration with industry as well as academic partners, significant strides were made in optimizing assays related to signal transduction analysis in normal as well as diseased bone marrow. Finally, in 2011, James uprooted from the Midwest in search of the mountains and desert of Utah where he has been the Director of the Flow Lab at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City. One of the many unifying themes through each of these distinct labs was the emphasis that education and training played for both facility staff and clients.

Webinar Summary

Education and training are essential parts of a SRL and cover a wide range of topics. As cytometry SRLs are likely to be centered on technology and instrumentation, education within the lab should strongly focus on both the theoretical workings of the instrumentation as well as the specific details of running and acquiring samples for both staff and the end user. This training and education webinar aims to provide specialized guidance for best practices at SRL facilities across the globe and is the third of seven in our SRL Best Practices series. This series is not intended to specifically define how to implement these recommendations but rather to help establish a set of goals for an SRL to reach its desired level of excellence.

Learning Objectives

A well balanced and thorough training and educational curricula within an SRL will touch on a very broad range of topics. The presenters will outline what should be addressed when developing an education program, such as:

•     Instrumentation
•     Experiment Design
•     Reagents
•     Lab Safety
•     Facility Policies
•     Data Analysis

Creating an education and training program within an SRL will promote a consistent approach to introducing new staff and end users to a lab,and ensure that everyone has the appropriate knowledge to successfully utilize the instrumentation in the lab.

Who Should Attend

The intended audience for the discussion is staff of all levels associated with a flow cytometry core facility.

CMLE Credit: 1.0