4 – Experimental Design

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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

It’s not easy to improve reproducibility in your experiments. Image manipulation has become a major problem in science, whether intentional or accidental. This has exploded with the advent of digital imaging and software like Photoshop. There are even mobile applications like Instagram filters that can be used for imaging trickery. It should go without saying that image reuse/manipulation represents profound dishonesty in science – a field intended to uphold the most stringent possible standards of truthful inquiry! But what about studies with a sloppy or stunted capacity for reproduction? These, too, plague science and hinder our ability to seamlessly move…

Compensation is necessary due to the physics of fluorescence. Basically, compensation is the mathematical process of correcting spectral spillover from a fluorochrome into a secondary detector so that it is possible to identify single positive events in the context of a multidimensional panel. Good compensation requires that your controls tightly adhere to three rules. If the controls don’t meet this criteria, it will lead to faulty compensation resulting in false conclusions and poorly reproducible data. Even among flow cytometry veterans, a strong foundation is occasionally in need of a tune-up. And in a topic as complex as flow cytometry, it’s…

Reproducibility is key to the scientific method. After the results of a study are published, the community validates the findings and extends them. If the findings are not reproducible, the second step is impossible. With performable experiments increasing in complexity, and the concurrent increase in the cost of equipment and reagents to perform these experiments, it is important to find the best way to maximize the money spent on advancing research. In flow cytometry, there are many places where improvements can be made to increase the consistency and reproducibility of an experiment. The most obvious place is in the instrument,…

All flow cytometer instruments have a certain 3 components, and the way they are put together will dictate the performance of the system. As a user, you’ll be interacting heavily with these components, so you need to know both what they are and how they work. There are fluidics, optics, and electronics. The fluidics allow you to interact at the right flow rate so that your data keep a tight CV. Then you can run the same flow rate for all your samples, and you won't have different CVs for different samples. There are also different optics you can use,…

Did you know that tissues can be measured by flow cytometry? Flow cytometry is the measurement of cellular processes at the whole-cell level. This definition is useful because it includes not only flow cytometry, but any technique that measures at the level of the whole cell. Microscopy, for instance, is a great example of cytometry. But, what can be measured by flow cytometry? For one, tissues with lots of cells. When flow cytometry is practiced, the cells are broken up. Therefore, any cellular interactions within the sample are also broken up. This includes tissues, cell-to-cell contacts in tissues, and virtually…