The Sony MA900 exports a CSV file for its index sorts.  In the index sort CSV file, there is a column where some of INDEX values are blank.  FCS Express cannot read the index sort CSV file if those blanks are scattered throughout that CSV column.

To prepare the file for loading into FCS Express please follow these steps:

• Open the Index Sort CSV file that the MA900 exported, in Excel.
• Highlight all of the columns in the CSV file that contain values.

• Now go to the Home tab, select Sort & Filter > Custom Sort

• Sort By Index, Click OK.

• Rename the "Index" column as "Well"
• Go to File > Save and save as a new CSV file
• Quit Excel

For FCS Express to create a Plate Heat Map, it requires an extra keyword txt file that defines the Plate rows and columns.  Extra keyword .txt files for 6-, 12-, 24-, 48-, 96- and 384- well plates can be downloaded from this link..

• Once you have downloaded the extra keyword txt file, place it in the same folder as the new index sort CSV file.

• Open FCS Express and create a new layout.
• Open the Data List if not already open (Data tab > Data list)
• In the Data List, click the “+” button
• Navigate to your new index sort csv file folder.  Then select Comma Separated Values Files.

• Then select Open file

• Drag and drop the file from the data list onto the FCS Express layout
• The Select Plot Types window will pop up.  In the window select both Color Dot Plot and Plate Heat Map with your Ctrl keyboard key.

• Click OK

Both plots have now been added to your layout:

To learn more about Plate Heat Map formatting options, click here.

To learn how to work with Plate Heat Maps for High Content Analysis, view the related videos on this page.

tags: MA 900