Sort your reagent inventory columns

To see your inventory, click Manage reagents on CytoGenie's opening screen.   

Your Manage reagents window will appear.  Click the Downward options arrow.

An Options pop-up menu will appear.  Click Manage columns.  A sub-menu will pop up.  Click Show all.

Your Reagents window will reappear.  Click the Downward options arrow again.

Click Manage columns on the options menu and Do not fit window on the sub-menu.

Virtual Reagents.  Those you do not currently have in your physical inventory but might want to use.  CytoGenie comes with a large virtual inventory of Invitrogen reagents, which you may use in planning your protocols.  You may also purchase the reagents you need online.

Private.  If you’re using CytoGenie Pro, click to put a check mark for any reagent lot you wish to keep for yourself in your own researcher-specific knowledge base.  All unchecked reagent information will be shared with other users in your lab or flow cytometry facility.  If you’re using CytoGenie Basic, hide this column, since you will not be able to share any reagent information.

Preferred lot.  If you want CytoGenie to use a particular reagent lot before any similar ones, click to put a check mark in the box.

Reagent type.  CytoGenie currently works with Antibody dies, Handle antibodies, Handle detectors, and Chemical dyes.

Determinant/epitope.  The determinant antigen or the site on the antigen to which an antibody attaches determines the antibody for which it is a receptor.  The name(s) in parentheses identify the specific antibody clone.

Determinant AKA.  Other names by which you might know the Determinant/epitope.  AKA = also known as.

When you finish viewing the screen, click and drag the horizontal scroll bar to view more columns.

Ab source species.  Species from which the antibody com²es.

Ag source species.  Species from which the antigen comes.

IgH Isotype.  Isotype of Immunoglobulin heavy chains.

Color/conjugate.  The attached color which you want your flow cytometry instrument to detect.

Optical detector.  The detectors that should recognize your Color/conjugate.

Click and drag the horizontal scroll bar once again.

These columns are explicitly commercial, helping you gain more information about specific reagents and determinants.  CytoGenie comes with a listing of Invitrogen reagents, but you can easily add the same kind of reagent information from any producer.

Manufacturer.  The reagent’s producer.

SKU.  Stock Keeping Unit, the producer’s identifier for this reagent.

Product name.  The producer’s brand name for this reagent.

Product URL.  Website with information about the product.

Determinant URL.  Website with information about the determinant.

Click and drag the horizontal scroll bar once again.

These columns, which are mostly empty here, will help you manage your reagent inventory.  Their headings are all obvious.  CytoGenie requires the Lot ID before it will treat a reagent lot as part of your physical inventory.  It also permits you to quickly identify a lot should any defects be found.

Click and drag the vertical scroll bar one final time.

On first glance, these columns might confuse you.  Use Comments to save whatever information you want.  The other seven are — or will become — important to the way CytoGenie works, but you will probably want to hide them for now.

To hide columns you do not want to view regularly, right-click anywhere on the grid or click the Downward options arrow.

An Options menu will pop up.  Click Sort/arrange columns.

The Sort/arrange window will appear.  Go to the Hidden? column and click the box of any heading you want to hide.  You can always come back to this window to unhide any column you wish to see.

Choose which columns to sort, the order in which CytoGenie will sort them, and whether you want the column sort in descending rather than ascending order.  You can also rearrange the sequence in which the columns will appear.  Click the row(s) you wish to move left or right. Then click the up and down arrows to move the columns left or right when they appear on a table.  When you’ve finished, click Done.  

Here are a likely set of choices.

Here is how the first window of the new table might look.  You can easily shift or hide any of these columns, either manually or by returning to the Sort/arrange columns window.

Click and drag the horizontal scroll bar to see the second window.

This is where you manage your inventory.

You may also view the table in a more selective — and less overwhelming — way.  Click again on the Downward options arrow.

On the options menu, click Tree: ….

A tree will now appear at the left edge of your table.  Click Root.

The table will disappear.

Click the + signs to open the tree and click the elements you wish to view.

Learn to use the tree.  It lets you view exactly what you want to view.

Enter your new reagent lots

Format columns and rows