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Flow Cytometry Services
Flow cytometry is a powerful tool for the analysis of individual cells from a mixed sample. Evaluating single-cell dynamics provides insight into population heterogeneity and cell differentiation.
Ichor uses both conventional cutting-edge spectral flow cytometry to provide more powerful sample characterization. This technology enables complex labeling combinations, obtaining more information from each sample.
Flow Cytometry for Every Sample Type
Our flow cytometry services can analyze clinical, animal, plant, or bacterial samples. Primary or cultured sample sources are readily accommodated.
Flow Cytometry Featured Applications
Fluorescence Activated Cell Sorting (FACS)
Our FACS services provide robust capabilities to isolate and purify bulk cell population or for single cells analyses.
Functional Cell Analyses
Flow Cytometry can reveal important intracellular processes, including changes in mitochondria and oxidative stress.
Cell Cycle Analysis
Incorporation of nucleotide analogs in DNA reveals cell division dynamics and ploidy levels. Cell cycle analysis provides insight into cancer and aging processes.
Cell Surface Marker Analysis
Cell surface markers can be assessed to identify distinct cell types or cell activation states.
Intracellular Signaling
Cells can be fixed and permeabilized, allowing for staining of intracellular targets, signaling molecules and transcription factors.
Cell Death Analysis
Live, apoptotic, necrotic, and senescent cells can be distinguished in mixed cell populations. Differentiating these cell fates imparts context to functional observations.
Biomarker Discovery and Quantitation
Flow Cytometry and FACS Analysis enables precise quantitation of cell-associated biomarkers, accelerating characterization of biomarker associations with health or disease.
Drug Development and Disease Monitoring
Our flow cytometry services can evaluate temporal changes in disease state to characterize disease progression or treatment efficacy.
Custom Services and Panel Development
Our flow cytometry services and customized labeling panels are specifically tailored to address the unique needs of each study.
Flexible Labeling Panels
Take advantage of our pre-existing labeling panels for identification of common cell types, or create a custom panel to suit your needs.
Spectral Flow Cytometry
State-of-the-art spectral flow cytometry provides unsurpassed fluorophore discrimination. Multiplex 20+ colors for enhanced characterization.
FACS Analysis and Statistical Support
Our flow cytometry services include custom data analysis. We provide original data files, custom acquisition layouts, population analyses, and graphed trends with statistics.
Pre-Enrichement by Magnetic Separation
For FACS services of rare cells, targeted magnetic depletion or enrichment can enhance accuracy and efficacy of cell isolation.
Dynamic Evaluations
Longitudinal FACS analysis experiments can highlight changes in population distributions, cell marker expression, and functional responses over time.
Bead Arrays for Multiplex Cytokine Detection
Fluorescent bead arrays quantitate of soluble analytes by flow cytometry. Take advantage of pre-validated cytokine panels, or create custom multiplex arrays.
Sample Preparation, Processing, and Staining
Optimization of Cell Treatments
Resolution of cell populations relies on robust phenotypic differences. Ichor can perform treatment gradients and time courses to maximize cell response, enabling superior results.
Labeling and Analysis Optimization
The appropriate labeling conditions are critical for adequate separation between cell populations. Let us optimize staining conditions to achieve high resolution between cell populations and activation states.
Annexin V staining and Propidium Iodide (PI) or 7AAD are classically used to apoptosis and necrosis, but caspase activation analysis can inform on the pathway leading to apoptosis.
From simple 2-parameter to multilineage repopulation, our flow cytometry services can perform various engraftment analyses in autologous, allogeneic and xenograft transplant models.
ELISAs are typically used to measure single cytokines. Bead Based Arrays allow simultaneous measurement of soluble analytes reducing sample volume requirement and thus saving time and money.
Combination of mitochondrial membrane potential dyes and total mitochondrial dyes can be used to determine activation states in cells under various stimulation conditions.
DNA Dyes allow monitoring of DNA replication through the cell cycle under different stimulation conditions. In Vivo compatible dyes can allow tracking of cell divisions post-injection from samples.
Instruments for Every Flow Cytometry Application
No single flow cytometer can accommodate every project need. That's why we use a collection of instruments to provide full flow cytometry services. Our small 2-laser BD Accuri C6, provides fast analysis for simple 2-4 marker experiments such as basic cell engraftment, cell transductions efficiency and apoptosis assays.
Our 3-laser BD LSR Fortessa Cell Analyzer provides streamlined sample characterization from low complexity samples and up to 13 markers. For cell sorting applications, our 4-laser BD FACS AriaII instrument executes accurate single-cell sorting from up to 12 markers.
When higher order multiplex labeling is required, we use the Cytek 5-laser Aurora to take advantage of the advances in spectral flow cytometry and provide unsurpassed fluorophore discrimination, maximizing subpopulation characterization.
Identification of Subpopulations from Complex Samples
Primary Cell Subpopulation Analysis
Ichor's Spectral flow cytometry services can provide analysis of primary human or animal samples for the characterization of cellular subpopulations from 20+ markers staining panels.
Cell Culture Treatments and Analysis
To evaluate functional responses of cultured cells, we offer end-to-end experimental workflows. Ichor will treat and harvest cell samples, then process and perform flow cytometry or FACS analysis according to your needs.
Featured Capabilities / Case Studies
Method Development
Sample Preparation and Analysis Optimization
For new flow cytometry projects, workflow optimization is a major component of study initiation. Determining the best fixation and labeling methods enables successful population distinction during FACS analysis. Upstream procedures for animal or cell treatments are equally important to overall effectiveness of the flow cytometry analysis. Our team can tackle end-to-end protocol optimization, ensuring that a robust cellular response is elicited, and can be detected through a precise and sensitive flow cytometry workflow.
Identification of Leukocyte Populations
T-Reg Labeling and Isolation
The interplay of distinct cellular subpopulations determines outcomes in human health and disease. FACS analysis enables the characterization of distinct cell types, using intracellular or surface markers to identify differentiated cells, and incorporating additional labels to probe cell function. This application is especially relevant to hematopoietic lineages, where immune cell function can determine disease outcomes.
Regulatory T-cells (T-regs) are a subset of immune cells implicated in immune response regulation and self-tolerance. T-regs can be identified among a mixed cell population by their expression of the transcription factor FOXP3.
Here, a complex sample of primary murine leukocytes was labeled with antibodies to surface markers CD45, CD3, CD4, CD8 CD25 were used with a viability stain. After washing, fixation and permeabilization allows for intranuclear labeling of transcription factor FoxP3 and subjected to flow cytometry analysis. The T-reg population is easily identified and quantified between different samples.
Senescent Cell Identification
The characterization of cellular senescence is a critical facet of longevity and oncology research. New labeling workflows enable the identification and isolation of senescent cells by FACS analysis. Ichor has optimized a protocol for senescent cell staining and sorting. This flow cytometry service can be applied to cells from culture, or primary isolates.
We are also experts in senescent induction, having established a collection of methods to promote senescence in cell culture. We are happy to customize a senescence study workflow to address your project goals.
Frequently Asked Questions
Learn more about our flow cytometry services.
Spectral flow cytometry captures the full spectrum of fluorescence emission from each fluorophore,and generates an emission signature. This facilitates better discrimination between markers with overlapping emissions, enabling more complex labeling schemes.
We maintain common labeling panels for the identification of human and murine cell types. We can use these pre-validated panels for your project, or can use customer-specified reagents for unique cell analyses.
Our FACS services utilize a 4-laser instrument to provide up to 12 marker sorting, into tubes for bulk cell population up to single cells in 384-well plates.
Yes! From In Vivo sample collection with our pharmacology services, to cultured cells, to sponsor provided tissues and samples, we can design entire workflows to isolate, stain and analyze samples by Flow Cytometry or perform FACS for downstream applications.