Small Particle Laboratory | Department of Medicine | School of Medicine

The TIME Core Small Particle Laboratory supports nanoparticle and extracellular vesicle research through advanced imaging and cytometry technologies.

Complementing TIME’s flow cytometry and cell culture capabilities, the laboratory combines super-resolution imaging with high-sensitivity particle analysis to support detailed characterization of small particles, extracellular vesicles and related biological structures.

Small Particle Imaging

The ONI Nanoimager provides super-resolution imaging for detailed subcellular and nanoparticle analysis.

Featured instrument: ONI Nanoimager

The ONI Nanoimager supports advanced single-molecule and super-resolution imaging applications, including extracellular vesicle characterization, nanoparticle analysis and high-resolution cellular imaging.

Key specifications:

2D and 3D Single-Molecule Localization Microscopy, including dSTORM, PALM and DNA-PAINT
Single-particle tracking (SPT)
Single-molecule FRET (smFRET)
Resolution up to approximately 20 nm
Field of view: 50 µm × 80 µm
100× NA 1.45 oil-immersion objective
Hamamatsu Orca Flash4.0 v3 camera
Flat-field laser illumination with Epifluorescence, HILO and TIRF imaging
Multicolour imaging with up to three colours

Laser configuration

405 nm
488 nm
561 nm
640 nm

Research applications

Extracellular vesicles and nanoparticles

EV imaging, counting and sizing
Detection of surface markers, including tetraspanins
Analysis of EV cargo such as proteins and nucleic acids
Lipid nanoparticle characterization, including particle size, composition, integrity, cargo and ligand distribution

dSTORM imaging in cells

Immunofluorescent labelling in cultured cells
Detection of extracellular and intracellular proteins at approximately 20 nm resolution

Recommended probes

640 nm laser: Alexa 647
561 nm laser: Cy3b, CF568, Alexa 555
488 nm laser: Atto488, CF488, Alexa 488

Small Particle Cytometry

The Beckman Coulter CytoFLEX nano supports high-sensitivity detection and analysis of extracellular vesicles, nanoparticles and other small biological particles.

Featured instrument: Beckman Coulter CytoFLEX nano

Key specifications:

Detection of particles as small as approximately 40 nm using violet side scatter
Six fluorescence detection channels
Five side-scatter channels
Four collinear lasers: 405 nm, 488 nm, 561 nm and 638 nm
Detection range: approximately 40 nm to 1 µm
Recommended acquisition speed: 5,000 events per second
Maximum acquisition speed: 16,000 events per second
Adjustable sample flow rate of approximately 1–6 µL/min
Compatible with 5 mL tubes and 1.5 mL microcentrifuge tubes

Research applications

The CytoFLEX nano is suitable for analysis of low-abundance targets within heterogeneous populations, including:

Extracellular vesicles and exosomes
Microvesicles
Polystyrene and silica nanoparticles
Protein complexes
Lipids and cholesterol-related particles

The system supports standard fluorescently labelled antibodies, membrane dyes and viability dyes.

Planning your experiment

Need help with a small particle study?

Contact the TIME Core team before beginning your experiment to discuss the most appropriate imaging or cytometry approach for your research goals.

Curtis Noordhof: noordhof@queensu.ca

Patricia Lima: pdal@queensu.ca