Cytometry. Part A : the journal of the International Society for Analytical Cytology
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Understanding aerosols produced by cell sorting is critical to biosafety risk assessment and validation of containment efficiency. In this study an Optical Airborne Particle Counter was used to analyze aerosols produced by the BD FACSAria and to assess the effectiveness of its aerosol containment. ⋯ In most cases, while numerous aerosols smaller than 5 µm were detected by the Optical Airborne Particle Counter, no Glo-Germ particles were detected, indicating that small aerosols are under-evaluated by the Glo-Germ method. The results demonstrate that the Optical Airborne Particle Counter offers a rapid, economic, and quantitative analysis of cell sorter aerosols and represents an improved method over Glo-Germ for the task of routine validation and monitoring of aerosol containment for cell sorting.