Characterisation is based on the physical properties of the cells such as size, volume, internal complexity, and granularity, and on individual or a combination of proteins that are specifically localised in distinct sub-populations. These proteins are stained with highly specific fluorescent markers like in fluorescence microscopy.

You can either analyse the composition of mixed cell populations and extract statistical information about each sub-population, or physically collect pure sub-populations of interest in a separate container (tube or multi-well plate) in what is called cell sorting.

In principle, FACS drives individual cells through a laser beam, and the scattered light and the emitted fluorescence is collected and analysed by an array of detectors. Hundreds or thousands of cells per second can be analysed at any single time, making flow cytometry a reliable and fast technique to extract variable information from thousands of cells in a matter of minutes. Applications of flow cytometry include:

• cell sorting
• immunophenotyping
• cell cycle analysis
• apoptosis
• cell proliferation assays
• cell signalling
• intracellular calcium flux

This sorter can analyse up to 13 fluorescent channels and is equipped with four lasers:

• 407
• 488
• 561
• 633

The system supports four nozzle diameters:

• 70 micrometres
• 85 micrometres
• 100 micrometres
• 130 micrometres
  

This enables the sorting of a wide range of particle sizes, from bacteria to large mammalian cells. The sort collection chamber allows two-way or four-way sorting into tubes, while the automatic cell deposition unit (ACDU) allows sorting into slides or multi-well plates, as well as index sorting.

Cell sorting is ideal for recovering specific cell subpopulations for reculturing, selective cloning, enrichment, and purification prior to polymerase chain reaction (PCR) amplification or protein analysis.

Our system is equipped with five lasers:

• 355 nanometres
• 405 nanometres
• 488 nanometres
• 561 nanometres
• 637 nanometres

Under the right conditions, you could analyse more than 40 colours in a single sample. The sensitivity of the system is excellent at making the detection and analysis of dim or rare populations easier, while the automations make it simple to analyse multiple samples. The system supports any kind of 96-well plates, flat-bottom 384-well plates, and five millilitre tube racks (24 tubes per rack).

Features like the Spectral Library and the Autofluorescence Finder simplify setup and increase the accuracy of the acquired data, and intuitive tools and guided workflows make usage easy from start to finish.