Mon Mar 23, 2020 8:02 am by jimbomahoney
Hi Mike,
I don't know much about the sample, and I didn't wash it myself. I try and push back as much as possible to the users, leaving me to concentrate on maintaining, operating etc. the CyTOF (and the other instruments I look after / train users on).
All I know is that this is lung, which as I understand it, is one of the more "messy" tissues to prepare for things like flow.
Most of the samples are good, but occassionally, one comes along with Pb or Ba in it.
Washing (presumably with CAS) got rid of the Pb, but didn't work on the Ba in another sample.
The user is somewhat perplexed because they say that each sample is prepared in the same way. Plus they are usually preparing three tubes at a time, and only one of them may have contamination issues.
In addition, I always check the CAS, EQ and any other solutions I'm adding for acquisition, as I did have one batch of EQ beads that showed Pb contamination, but they'd been in a fridge for quite a while (almost empty bottle).