What is Flow Cytometry?

"Cytometry refers to the measurement of physical and /or chemical characteristics of cells, or, by extension, of other biological particles. Flow Cytometry is a process in which such measurements are made while the cells or particles pass, preferably in single file, through the measuring apparatus in a fluid stream. Flow Sorting extends flow cytometry by using electrical or mechanical means to divert and collect cells with one or more measured characteristics falling within a range or ranges of values set by the user."

This definition for Flow Cytometry is adapted from the third edition of: Howard Shapiro: "Practical Flow Cytometry". John Wiley and Sons, Inc., New York.

A simplified illustration of Flow Cytometry is given below

Our instrument

The Flow Cytometer we are currently using is a DakoCytomation MoFlo equipped with 9 PMT and 3 lasers:

* Coherent Innova 90 (multiline UV, 488nm, 514nm)
* Coherent Innova 300 (multiline, UV, 488nm, 514nm)
* Spectra-Physics HeNe (632.8nm)
* high speed analysis (up to 100.000 s-1 ideally at 30.000 - 50.000 s-1)
* multiparameter analysis: up to 16 simultaneously
* size resolution approximately <0.3µm
* sorting of predefined cell populations (up to 70.000 s-1, typically at 1.000 - 10.000 s-1)

Analysis is performed with the Summit software package.