Re: FACSAria ceramic nozzle cleaning

We have been using the ceramic nozzle here in our Aria for a couple of 
months and I have to say that it is certainly an improvement over the 
previous design. They are incredibly durable. I have sonicated ours for 
several minutes at a time with no detrimental effects. That said I 
think that you may have to sonicate these more often. I used to remove 
my gold nozzle everyday and store in DI water when not in use and that 
gave me great performance and longevity. Because these	ceramic nozzles 
are so durable, and also because I find that they are a little more 
finicky with installing the o-ring and nozzle into the cuvette, I 
typically leave my nozzle in until it starts to act up.  This may be 
why I need to sonicate more often, but it does not seem to matter much 
to the performance.
What I really like about this new design is that they are very 
consistent. My settings for time and drop delays have changed very 
little since I installed the nozzle, so long as I use the same breakoff 
(1st drop) setting. What I have found though is that the most frequent 
solution to any problem I have had is sonication of the nozzle. If I 
sonicate my nozzle when the side streams are too narrow, or any clog 
related problem, the issue is easily resolved. The only other problem 
that I have had is accumulation of droplets on my charge plates during 
test sort. I have found that generally if I reinstall my o-ring and 
then put the nozzle back in, sometimes after sonication, my problem is 
solved.
Summary: the only problems I have had are related to cleaning and 
installation, otherwise they work very well.

Wayne A. C. Harris
BMT Laboratory
Immunology and Flow Cytometry Assays Laboratory
Winship Cancer Institute, Emory University
1701 Uppergate Drive
WCI, 4th Floor, Rm#4032
Atlanta GA  30322
404-727-3086