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> Is there any Mac-compatible freeware for FACS analysis? I don't
> see any on the various Web pages.
To the best of my knowledge, there is no general purpose flow cytometry
analysis package for the Mac which is free. The closest is Robb
Habbersett's IDYLK. It is very powerful and free, but requires a
commercially licensed interpreter (which may already be available in
sharable form at some sites, e.g. on unix systems, and could be used
on a networked Mac via X-windows). Geoff Osborne has provided
several Mac tutorials (statistics, compensation, FACScan shutdown), and
Ted Kunich has provided DropPrint which displays the instrument settings
recorded in a CellQuest listmode file. Several people have said they
are working on Mac programs, but none have delivered a working version
to the public domain as yet. My recommendation would be to get a
Power Mac with PC/Windows hardware/software, and run the excellent
PC/Windows freeware which is already available.
Here's my standard message for new subscribers who haven't seen it:
A comprehensive, international catalog of free flow cytometry software is
available via World Wide Web (using a Web browser such as Mosaic, Netscape,
or Lynx) at http://www.bio.umass.edu/mcbfacs/flowcat.html.
WinMDI (for PC Windows) is the preeminant free general purpose flow
cytometry program. It is quite excellent and does almost everything
you might want except DNA cell cycle analysis (and its capabilities
for time kinetics are limited). It does multiple colored gates and 3D
plots. Get it from the catalog above, or from the original source,
http://facs.scripps.edu, or by anonymous ftp, also from
facs.scripps.edu in /pub/pc.
MFI (for DOS) is available thru the above web catalog, or by anonymous
ftp from flowcyt.bio.umass.edu in /pub/flowcyt/mfi. (When a beta-test
version with new features is available, it is in
/pub/flowcyt/mfi/beta.dir.) MFI is especially good for processing
large numbers of files quickly, for time kinetics (including
calculating a ratio and drawing the line graph), and for
spreadsheet-ready ASCII conversions. It has a detailed tutorial with
sample data. MFI does neither quadrant analysis nor DNA cell-cycle
analysis.
More details are available in the catalog on these and other free programs.
/*- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Eric Martz, Professor of Immunology emartz@microbio.umass.edu
Dept Microbiology Voice: 413-545-2325 FAX: 413-545-1578
Morrill IVN 203, Box 35720, Univ Massachusetts, Amherst MA 01003-5720
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -*/
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