Flow Cytometer

Flow cytometer is an advanced cell (cytology) instrument used to quickly analyze and count the characteristics, shape, size and number of individual cells. Flow cytometers separate individual cells by forcing a fluid flow through the cells and passing them into a laser beam to analyze, count and sort cells or cell groups by detecting the reaction and response of the cells to the laser. Different laser configurations can detect multiple parameters of individual cells, such as cell size, shape, surface molecules, fluorescent markers, DNA content and vitality. This makes flow cytometers an important tool for cytology research.

Flow dot matrix instruments can be divided into laser flow dot matrix instruments and lamp flow dot matrix instruments according to the type of excitation light source.

According to the detection method, it can be divided into three types: forward scattering, side scattering and fluorescence.

According to the parameters measured, it can be divided into single parameter, dual parameter and multi-parameter. Among them, single parameter only measures one parameter, such as cell size; dual parameter can measure two parameters at the same time, such as size and complexity; multi-parameter can measure three or more parameters at the same time, such as size, complexity and expression of cell surface molecules.

There are also some special flow cytometry instruments, such as time-of-flight mass spectrometer (TOF-MS) and punch flow cytometer.