What is Flow Cytometry?

Flow cytometry is a powerful means of measuring certain physical and chemical characteristics of cells or particles as they flow in a liquid stream one by one past a sensing point.

Flow cytometry has two general applications; quantitative analysis and cell sorting.

Analysis and differentiation of the cells is based on physical characteristics such as cell size and granularity (internal complexity) and any cell component or function that can be detected by a fluorescent compound either in the form of antibodies or dyes.

Cell sorting involves physical separation of distinct subpopulations of interest on the basis of the measured characteristics for the purpose of performing further experimental procedures.