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It was great to see so many of you at the 25th annual Clinical Cytometry meeting in Houston last month. It was one of the Society’s most successful meetings, with a record 427 attendees. I’m certain that all would agree that it was well worth attending. The program had something for everyone, including five diverse plenary sessions, luncheon workshops, poster sessions, the Wallace H. Coulter lecture, the CSI Houston cases, and a trip to the Houston Aquarium. This issue of the eNewsletter includes articles about each of the meeting’s plenary sessions, giving a flavor of the information discussed and what to watch out for in the future.
If you couldn’t make it to the meeting, check out the ICCS website for other ways to enhance your understanding of flow cytometry. Read back issues of the eNewsletter, view Maryalice Stetler-Stevenson’s Wallace H. Coulter lecture, keep up-to-date with the Society’s activities, download the CLIA Compliance Manual, contact other members, watch for additional educational web presentations that will be posted in 2011, and get information about upcoming meetings. In addition finding information that will assist with your current practice of flow cytometry, you could identify resources to help you in the future to obtain flow cytometry certification. Since the article published in the Spring issue of the eNewsletter, there has been significant progress in creating a certification in flow cytometry. In September 2010, ISAC and ICCS announced completion of the study to determine the knowledge, skills, and abilities common to all cytometry work settings. With this information, a content outline was developed listing the topics to be covered in the exam. Topics include instrumentation, sample integrity, sample preparation, data standards, data analysis, safety, quality control, assay development, reagent selection, assay validation, and theoretical principles. Both societies are now recruiting experts to write, review, and edit potential test questions.
The CSI challenge in this issue of the eNewsletter covers a topic that everyone involved in leukemia immunophenotyping needs to know. Do you recognize what it is? Download the FCS files and analyze the case in your own lab., or look at the PDF files of the example analysis. When you think you’ve figured it out, read the case discussion, and then have fun testing your co-workers! If you enjoy the CSI challenges, keep an eye open for the new section in the journal Clinical Cytometry containing the CSI cases presented at the Houston meeting. Also, as you read the journal look out for an interesting article recently accepted for publication on a rapid detection method for X-linked lymphoproliferative syndrome by Meina Zhao and colleagues. Dr. Rebecca Marsh from Cincinnati Children’s has written a review of this article for the Journal Highlights section of the current issue of the eNewsletter. This review also serves as an preface to the next issue of the eNewsletter, which will focus on pediatric applications of flow cytometry.
I hope you enjoy the current issue of the eNewsletter. Please contact me if you have suggestions for future articles.
Fiona Craig (Editor)
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