Course Description
This two and half day comprehensive course covers topics relevant to technologists, laboratory scientists, and pathologists working in the field of clinical flow cytometry. Attendees will get hands-on practical experience, working with a team of expert faculty, with a high faculty to student ratio. The small group design allows for personalized teaching so you can get information relevant to your laboratory setting. The small group format also allows participants to make connections with students and faculty that will serve as an ongoing resource when you return to your lab.
The following topics will be covered:
- Instrumentation:
- Get hands-on, practical instruction using software that simulates the cytometer in your lab.
- Learn how to optimize instrument set-up to achieve the best results, and get the same result from multiple instruments.
- Understand compensation, and identify ways to insure your compensation settings are setup correctly for each assay-specific application.
- Panel Design and Validation:
- Learn how to effectively develop a new multicolor flow cytometric assay.
- Understand the requirements for validation of a new assay.
- Develop effective strategies for ongoing monitoring of quality.
- Recognizing normal:
- Understand the importance of using a “difference from normal” approach to flow cytometric data.
- Build an effective analysis template that will highlight potential pitfalls, and maximize recognition of neoplastic cells.
- Analyze patient data from peripheral blood, bone marrow, and lymph node and become more familiar with normal cells and changes that occur in reactive conditions.
- Chronic Lymphoid Disorders (B & T):
- Work though real case examples of mature B-cell and T-cell neoplasms.
- Develop an approach to interpretation that maximizes the utility of flow cytometry, while identifying when other ancillary studies are necessary.
- Participants who are relatively new to clinical flow cytometry can focus on recognizing characteristic features of common neoplasms.
- More experienced participants can work though more challenging cases of T-cell lymphoma.
- Acute leukemia:
- Work through real case examples of acute leukemia, including acute myeloid leukemia, lymphoblastic leukemia, and mixed lineage leukemia.
- Understand steps involved in accurate diagnosis, lineage assignment, and classification of Acute leukemia.
- More experienced participants can evaluate specimens for minimal residual lymphoblastic leukemia and acute myeloid leukemia.
- Trouble Shooting in Clinical Flow Cytometry:
- A review of challenges and ways to prevent or even overcome things that can happen at all three phases of flow cytometry testing:
- Sample setup
- Instrument acquisition issues
- Analytical methods that can improve the quality of your results.
- Recognize some of the artifacts that might lead to incorrect interpretation of flow cytometric data, and learn how to work around these situations.