The Hawaiʻi Center for AIDS Processing Laboratory is a dedicated facility that aims to support our research program by ensuring high-quality clinical specimens for scientific studies. The laboratory specializes in the collection, processing, and storage of patient biospecimens including plasma, serum, and peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs). Over the years, our laboratory has evolved alongside the clinical trials that it has supported. These clinical trial collaborations have allowed our team to gain the expertise needed to accommodate the unique processing needs for each of their respective protocols.
To ensure the use of high-quality clinical specimens in scientific studies, we implement monthly quality assurance checks, which also serve to refine our processing methods.
Our laboratory focuses on producing high-quality PBMCs, routinely verifying cell viability and counts. This is crucial for maintaining accuracy during experimentation.
By utilizing a hemocytometer, we can visualize cell density and confirm the accuracy of our automated counting methods.
PBMC counts are taken from each of the four quadrants of the hemocytometer. This image shows PBMCs in one quadrant. Live PBMCs appear spherical, while dead PBMCs are usually misshapen.
Once live and dead PBMC counts are taken from each quadrant, we can calculate the total number of live cells and the sample viability.