What is Flow Cytometry?
In biomedical research and clinical diagnostics, flow cytometry is used to analyse and quantify the characteristics of cells or particles that are suspended in a fluid medium. Through this, it allows researchers to examine and measure parameters of individual cells or particles in large numbers.
Within flow cytometry, cells and particles are stained with fluorescent dyes or labelled with tagged antibodies that are specific to cell markers or molecules of interest, afterwards, this sample is then injected into a flow cytometer, an instrument that combines fluidics, optics, and electronics.
This sample flows through the flow cytometer, passing through a laser beam that excites fluorochromes, emitting light at specific wavelength, which photodetectors will detect. By analyzing the intensity of emitted light from these fluorochromes, flow cytometry can provide information about the size, complexity, granularity, and fluorescence intensity of individual particles or cells.
Flow cytometry services enable the identification and characterization of different cell populations with a heterogeneous sample, including immune cells, stem cells, or cancer cells, being widely used in a variety of fields in order to study cellular functions, diagnose diseases, and monitor treatment responses.
Flow Cytometry Services: Applications and Capabilities
Flow cytometry services are utilized in a wide range of fields, such as cancer research, immunology, stem cell studies, and drug discovery, in utilizing flow cytometry, you can explore cellular proliferation, cell sorting and cycle analysis, apoptosis, cytokine production, and receptor expression.
Our Flow Cytometry Services offers a diverse range of applications:
Immunophenotyping
Categorizes cell populations based on distinct antigen profiles, revealing their cellular identities and functions.
Cell Proliferation
Analysis of cell proliferation will enhance your research with insights into cellular replication dynamics.
Cell Sorting and Cell Cycle Analysis
Flow cytometry enable cellular populations and division dynamics to be explored in depth.
Receptor Expressions Analysis
Cell surface and intracellular receptor levels can be accessed through receptor expression analysis, deepening your understanding of cell signalling and functional behavior.
Cytokine Production
Through quantifying immune cell-secreted cytokine, cytokine production analysis through flow cytometry provides information on immune responses and cellular interactions.
Apoptosis Analysis
Detect and quantify cells that are undergoing programmed cell death, apoptosis analysis offers a variety of insights into cellular health and treatment responses.
Capabilities
Data Analysis and Interpretation
Our expert team will assist you in generating meaningful insights from your complex flow cytometry datasets, in addition to data acquisition, our flow cytometry services also include advanced data analysis and interpretation, which will help you discover crucial information regarding your samples.
Time-Series and Longitudinal Studies
We have the capability to accommodate time-series and longitudinal studies using allowing changes in cell populations, marker expression, and functional responses over a period of time to be closely monitored.
Functional Assays and Cell Signalling Studies
With the use of flow cytometry, functional assays and studies relating to cell signalling can be performed facilitating the investigation of intracellular signalling pathways, calcium flux, mitochondrial function, along with other functional characteristics of cells.
Specialized Techniques and Support
Single-Cell RNA Sequencing Integration
For a more comprehensive understanding of cellular heterogeneity, flow cytometry data is integrated with single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq), this integration enables simultaneous analysis of surface marker expression, and intracellular gene expression profiles within individual cells.
Custom Panel Development
We offer flexible flow cytometry services that provide custom panel development that will meet your specific research needs. If your analysis requires markers not covered by pre-validated panels, our scientists can collaborate with you to design custom panels that align to your unique research questions.
Custom Panel Options
Flow cytometry is a powerful tool to characterize individual particles and cells in a mixed population, we provide flow cytometry services that can be customized to your specific needs.
The availability of panels within our flow cytometry services allows tailored experiments based on your specific research questions, desired throughput, and analysis complexity. Furthermore, panel capabilities can be leveraged in order to provide comprehensive solutions for cellular analysis, cell sorting, biomarker discovery, and functional studies, highlighting the broad platform of application that flow cytometry can offer.
Basic Flow Cytometry Panels
Up to 4 markers in addition to size and granularity, our basic flow cytometry services can be used to characterize basic cell populations, e.g. CD45.1 vs CD45.2, H2d vs H2k, human vs mouse cells, etc.).
- High throughput, up to four color basic panels, live or fixed samples.
Spectral Flow Cytometry
Pre-validated panels to query common immune cell markers or custom design panels tailored specifically to the needs of your studies. Up to 30 colors multiplexed on the Cytek Aurora (5 Lasers).
- 14-30 color custom designed panels, live or fixed samples.
Bead Based Arrays
Bead based arrays to multiplex analysis of samples using pre-validated panels or custom designed panels (BD® Cytometric Bead Array (CBA) or BioLegend® LEGENDPlex™ Assays).
- Simultaneous analysis of several markers in a single sample.
Conventional Flow Cytometry Panels
Gain access to multicolor panel design for characterization of different cell populations. 3 Laser (405nm, 488nm, 640nm) up to 13 color analysis on fixed or live samples on the BD Fortessa instrument. Compare intracellular signaling, surface expression, and cell populations in your live or fixed samples.
Fluorescence Activated Cell Sorting (FACS)
Isolate cell populations with specific characteristics on the BD Aria 4 Laser (407nm, 488nm, 561nm, 633nm) flow cytometry cell sorter. Custom designed panels. Ask about our magnetic-enrichment capabilities to streamline FACS assays.
- Multicolor panel design to select a population of interest.
Sample Processing, Enrichment, and Staining
Our expert team can harvest samples based on the needs of your study. These samples can be processed into single cell suspensions to allow for analysis by flow cytometry or FACS.
Need to deplete an unwanted population or enrich another? We are well equipped to perform magnetic-assisted enrichment or depletion (MACS) at any scale. These services can be provided as an add-on to our flow cytometry services or as a stand-alone service.
Magnetic Enrichment of Cells
Magnetic Enrichment of Cells
Our flow cytometry services have the capability to perform small scale labelling and purification using Miltenyi Biotec MACS® Cell Separation Reagents or BioLegend MojoSort reagents.
Fully Automated Labeling and Magnetic Sorting
Enrich or deplete selected cell populations from samples for downstream analyses using the Miltenyi Biotec AutoMACS® Pro and selected magnetic microbeads.