Project Leads: Dr. Susan McQuiston
Elevator Pitch:
Flow Cytometry is an important tool used in medicine and research to analyze specific features of individual cells as they flow past a laser. These features allow scientists to understand how different cells grow and function, leading to new medical and scientific discoveries. Flow Cytometry is used to analyze the specific category and treatment for leukemias and lymphomas.This cell analysis technique is also used to develop new drugs and treatments for cancer, autoimmune diseases, dementia and many other diseases.
Team Bios:
Dr. McQuiston graduated from Michigan State University with a Bachelor of Science in Medical Technology and earned a Master of Science in Clinical Science with a focus in Immunology from San Francisco State University. After 15 years in medicine and scientific research, she earned a Juris Doctor from the University of San Francisco with an emphasis in Intellectual Property. She is ASCP certified and a member of the California Bar and the United States Patent Bar. Dr. McQuiston has experience in clinical laboratories, academic research laboratories, and at biotechnology companies, and in patent law.
Dr. Susan McQuiston has been with the Biomedical Laboratory Diagnostics Program since May 2009. She was the first laboratory skills instructor in BLD and served in that role for ten years, in addition to serving as Faculty Mentor and Co-Mentor for the BLD Student Association. Dr. McQuiston currently teaches Hematology and Hemostasis lectures, in addition to Flow Cytometry classes for undergraduate and graduate students. She is also an Academic Advisor.
Dr. McQuiston currently serves as the BLD Scholarship Committee Chair and BLD representative to the CNS DEIAC. She is a 2013 graduate of the Walter and Pauline Adams Academy for Instructional Excellence and Innovation. Dr. McQuiston also serves on the board of directors for the Medical Technology Internship Match Program of Michigan (MTIMPM). She awarded the Outstanding Academic Advisor for 2013 and received a CNS Faculty Teaching Prize in 2014.
What are some of the successes?
In my original budget, I requested 5 computers and analysis software. When we received our flow cytometer instrument with the help of TLE money, software came with it. This software can be used for analysis and installed on numerous computers. To quote the installation technician, "No one has reached the limit on the number of computers it can be used on". I've decided to use this software as it will be easier for students to use software for analysis that is similar to what is used for data collection on the instrument. Instead, I would like to purchase a 6th computer to use as an analysis station in the teaching lab (Room 160 GH). The computer display is fed to multiple HDTVs. While students will perform analysis in groups in the computer lab, we can also discuss analysis as a class in the teaching lab.
What are some of the challenges that you have experienced on this project?
The current computer in that room is more than 10 years old and cannot run the software. Due to the expense of the reagents in this field, we have used expired, donated reagents in the past. These are no longer suitable for the new lab exercises. Recently we purchased some reagents to start with that totaled about $1560.00.
Image attribution:
"Flow Cytometry" by Pacific Northwest National Laboratory - PNNL is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0.
