How to modernise your flow cytometry data analysis training with Odyssey.

One of the main complaints we often hear from SRL leads is that training can be a stressful, expensive experience with far too much admin required. At Applied Cytometry, we understand how important effective flow cytometry training is in ensuring confidence, capability and innovation in users.

We’re on a journey to make education accessible for everyone. It began with our partnership with Derek Davies helping to facilitate his essential Fundamentals of Flow Cytometry course, which you can attend virtually for free. Now we want to introduce Odyssey, our collaborative flow cytometry data analysis software.

Because of its collaborative nature, Odyssey is the perfect tool for training and education. Odyssey helps to remove price and time sensitive barriers to education whilst also alleviating the stress of admin for you. But don’t just take our word for it, keep reading to hear how Odyssey performed in a real-world classroom setting.

Odyssey in Action at the University College Dublin Flow Cytometry Summer School, Conway Institute.

Last year we worked with Dr Alfonso Blanco to see how Odyssey could compliment his training programme at UCD.

Aim: Test the feasibility of using a web-based software to collaboratively teach a set of students with hardware and IT system agnostic devices, how to analyse flow cytometry data sets.

Local Challenges:

• 25+ students: most with some rudimentary flow cytometry knowledge, from at least 7 different institutions, all with different computer hardware and IT systems.
• Modest Wi-Fi connection available. This had proved troublesome when utilising other web-based systems in previous years. The lecture theatre is partially subterranean, so mobile phone data signal is poor.

Prep:

• Prior to the course we worked with faculty member Dr David Galbraith (based remotely in the US East Coast) and Course leader Dr Alfonso Blanco to discuss the usage of live software teaching tools lecture and feasibility of usage during instrument practical sessions on freshly acquired data.

Enrolled each student and gave them each the same password to test mass enrolment process:

2 out of 27 students failed to receive automated enrolment emails due to their individual email servers rejecting our validation email, successfully enrolled these using an alternate email address.

Each delegate successfully logged into Odyssey and were given the option to change their password.

• For Dr Galbraith’s session we collaboratively designed analysis workspaces with embedded data in a couple of virtual meetings with him.
• For other sessions workspaces with embedded data were prepared to show other applications

Challenges & Solutions:

On arrival in UCD, Dublin on Day 1 of course we discovered UCD firewall prevented access to Odyssey. The UCD IT system rejected the way Odyssey was utilising different ports when remote communicating with the AWS server.

As Odyssey is an Applied Cytometry in-house product, our programmers were able diagnose the issue and re-write the utilisation of the access ports and upload a new version of Odyssey overnight for usage on the course the next day! Because Odyssey is an online product all users benefited from the changes instantly without having to download anything.

Experiences of live usage of Odyssey during training:

During Dr Galbraith's talk data was analysed live by a presenter. Students were able to work simultaneously with the software to analyse the different data sets on their own devices.

During live instrument practical sessions, a wide variety of samples were acquired such as, plant protoplasts, transfected cells and cells prepared for cell viability assays. As soon as data was acquired, data could be analysed live and then easily and quickly shared with delegates without downloading any software on to the instrument computer or checking its compatibility.”

Conclusions

Overall, it was a successful experiment. We were happy with the performance of Odyssey and felt it complimented Alfonso’s training sessions greatly.

The ability to analyse pre-prepared data sets and live acquired data positively enhanced the student’s learning experiences. Being able to analyse real data from real labs is a step up from just seeing a power-point of the data.

Despite the modest Wi-Fi connection, no issues in lag were experienced by students no matter the size of the data sets they were looking at.

We’re looking forward to collaborating with Alfonso again to help facilitate his next training course this year.

Common flow cytometry training problems. How does Odyssey solve them?

We saw how Odyssey helped combat Alfonso’s past issues with Wi-Fi and data. But what about other issues that you might be experiencing?

Here are 9 of the most common issues that training leads face when choosing the right software for flow cytometry data analysis training and how Odyssey helps combat them.

I want to share teaching workspaces with trainees that aren’t on my data network. Setting up Google Drives, emailing files, or handing out USB drives are too laborious and time consuming! With Odyssey sharing is easy! Group share each fully or partially completed workspace you require with your trainees without ever leaving the software. No need for any clumsy data movement.

I can’t afford to provide licenses and computer hardware for all the trainees on my course, but I want everyone to get thorough hands-on experience with data analysis. Don’t worry, Odyssey’s free tier allows analysis of 30 files a month which is more than enough to get your trainees started and because Odyssey is browser based it works independently of hardware meaning it can be used anytime, anywhere, on any device.

I have access to some teaching lab computers in my institute, but I worry they may not be powerful enough to handle large data files with lots of parameters. Odyssey is hosted on Amazon Web Services and utilises its powerful data processing capabilities meaning all the hard work is done in the cloud, so anything with a screen and internet connection will allow you to handle even the largest of data sets.

I am afraid that my WiFi connection at the institute may not be powerful enough. Odyssey only needs a modest internet connection. Remember all processing is done in the cloud so no data needs to be exchanged with your device. You are looking at images of your data being processed on powerful AWS servers.

From experience with other software packages, getting everything set up and running for courses is a lot of work and if we purchase licenses they are often tied to specific devices or users. Using Odyssey is very low admin for you. Users are self-enrolled through our fully automated licensing portal. Which means they can register on the day of the course and be up and analysing within minutes without your involvement. Additionally, Odyssey licenses if you chose to purchase them, are not restricted to specific devices or users.

I have never trained with Odyssey before; how will you help me? At Applied Cytometry, we are available before your course to help you get ready, as well as checking that all your trainees are properly set up. We can be on hand either remotely or in person for your course to ensure everything is running smoothly.

Free versions of other software are often not comprehensive. I need the software to be fully functional for all my trainees. All forms of Odyssey are fully functional, including our free tier! You can make plots, draw gates, show stats, print PDFs in one easy package. It also has automated workflows for colour compensation and reagent titration, as well as advanced displays such as, n x n plots and 3D views.

Other software providers have different software versions for different operating systems that are always changing versions this is very challenging in a training situation. Everyone uses the same version of Odyssey, so everyone is trained the same. As we continue to improve the software based on your feedback, we will document what’s new in the help menu as well as updating our user guide.

Typically, software is very complicated to learn, how does Odyssey compare? Odyssey has both hierarchy as well as layout views familiar in other software packages. It also has a great interactive n x n page which allows you to see how all your parameters interact with each other as well as being able to change hyper log and colour compensation settings without creating individual plots. Furthermore, we have prepared a series of 90 second videos to take you through important parts of Odyssey together with a comprehensive user guide covering all screens and options.

Do these challenges sound familiar? Try Odyssey for free now and let it alleviate the stress, admin and expensive of training. Or still want to find out more, check out our website or leave a comment below and we’ll get back to you.

Education with Odyssey FAQ

After reading this article and thinking about the logistics of setting up your own courses with Odyssey, you might have some more questions. Here are some we think would spring to mind.

1. How do the licenses with Odyssey work for training courses?

The licensing mechanism for Odyssey is very flexible you can easily set your delegates up on a month’s free trial of the full Odyssey software, then they would roll back to a free tier basis where they can upload and analyse 30 files a month totally free without the need for a paid license!

2. How can we effectively organise software for training purposes when we lack the necessary computers and manpower?

Odyssey can be used anywhere and, on any device, so your delegates will be able to use their own devices, Mac’s, iPad, Phones or Laptops, there does not need to be a dedicated pc for them to use, all that is needed is access to the internet.

3. What features does Odyssey offer for training purposes and are there specific modules or tools for demonstrating data analysis, gating, and interpretation?

Odyssey includes advanced data visualization, gating tools, high dimensional data analysis, reporting capabilities, compensation and titration tools. Odyssey has both hierarchy as well as layout views familiar in other software packages. It also has a great interactive n x n page which allows you to see how all your parameters interact with each other as well as being able to change hyper log and colour compensation settings without creating individual plots. These can be utilised for real-time demonstrations of flow cytometry data analysis techniques.

4. Is the software accessible to trainees remotely and are there limits on the number of simultaneous users?

Yes, Odyssey being cloud-based enables remote access from any internet-enabled device (PC, Mac, or tablet). No installations are required, reducing IT barriers, with the Free trial and the Free Tier of Odyssey there are no limits on the number of simultaneous users.

5. How is data stored and shared in the cloud and what measures are in place to protect sensitive or proprietary research data during training?

Data is stored securely within the Amazon Web Servers in the cloud and can be shared via user access permissions. Trainers can upload datasets beforehand and assign access to participants as needed.

6. Can the software be tailored to specific training needs? Is it possible to design workflows, create templates, or pre-set gating strategies for specific scenarios?

Yes, Odyssey allows for customisable workflows, the creation of workspace templates, and notes.

7. Does it support multi-instrument data formats?

Odyssey is compatible with FCS data files from all major flow cytometers, allowing trainers to demonstrate analysis on data from a variety of instruments.

8. How can I save money on delivering flow cytometry data analysis training?

With the Free tier 30 30 30 structure of Odyssey, you will not need to pay a thing to use this analysis software for your training, sign up costs nothing and gives you 30 files per month to analyse. If you need more, you can hit the “request trial” button in the software, this will give you 30 days of full access to the software with unlimited file analysis, absolutely free. After this your free tier switches back to 30 files per month - what's not to love about that!

9. Other software often have different versions for various operating systems, with frequent updates making training challenging. How does Odyssey handle this differently?

Odyssey is cloud-based, ensuring that all users access the same version, which simplifies training and creates a consistent learning experience. As we continuously improve the software based on user feedback, we document all updates in the help menu and regularly update our user guide to keep you informed of what’s new.

10. Does the Odyssey software facilitate group discussions or feedback?

With the collaborative features of Odyssey, you can share datasets and files, enter comments and images in the notes section to enable discussion and feedback on the data as needed.

So, what are you waiting for? Give Odyssey a try today! If you would be interested in further discussing how Odyssey can help facilitate your training courses please email us at [email protected] or leave a comment below and we will get back to you.