Experimental Design

When a researcher chooses to use flow cytometry to answer a scientific question, they first have to build a polychromatic panel that will take advantage of the power of the technology and experimental design. When we set up to use flow cytometry to answer a scientific question, we have to design a polychromatic panel that will allow us to identify the cells of interest – the target of the research.  To identify these cells, we need to build a panel that takes advantage of the relative brightness of the fluorochromes, the expression level of the different proteins on the cell,…

There are 4 major ways to sort cells. The first way can use magnetic beads coupled to antibodies and pass the cells through a magnetic field. The labeled cells will stick, and the unlabeled cells will remain in the supernatant. The second way is to use some sort of mechanical force like a flapper or air stream that separates the target cells from the bulk population. The third way is the recently introduced microfluidics sorter, which uses microfluidics channels to isolate the target cells. The last method, which is the most common––based on Fuwyler’s work––is the electrostatic cell sorter. This…