We use cookies to understand how you use our site and to improve your experience. This includes personalizing content and advertising. To learn more, click here. By continuing to use our site, you accept our use of cookies. Cookie Policy.

Features Partner Sites Information LinkXpress
Sign In
Advertise with Us
LGC Clinical Diagnostics

Download Mobile App




Events

09 Apr 2024 - 12 Apr 2024
15 Apr 2024 - 17 Apr 2024
23 Apr 2024 - 26 Apr 2024

Flow Cytometry Improved Updated Spectral Analyzer

By LabMedica International staff writers
Posted on 31 Oct 2019
Print article
Image: The Aurora advanced flow cytometry system is now available with five lasers to enable seeing more than 30 colors from a single sample (Photo courtesy of Cytek Biosciences).
Image: The Aurora advanced flow cytometry system is now available with five lasers to enable seeing more than 30 colors from a single sample (Photo courtesy of Cytek Biosciences).
Flow cytometry aims to count the number, size, granularity, and other properties of cells in a heterogeneous population. Standard flow cytometry lasers excite certain fluorescent markers (fluorochromes, antibodies, or stains) on a cell as it passes through the beam.

Detectors in the instrument record and quantify the relative amount of light emitted by fluorescent markers in the cell, which the tool presents to scientists through a histogram. However, flow cytometer users can run into a myriad of technical issues, such as dealing with limited sample volumes and lacking enough lasers to excite a target amount of fluorochromes. Each laser also can only excite a certain number of fluorochromes on a cell before inducing spectral overlap.

An updated model of its Aurora flow cytometry system has been released by Cytek Biosciences (Fremont, CA, USA), which offers scientists the ability to multiplex 40 fluorescent biomarkers on a cell in a blood sample for scientific and clinical purposes. The updated Aurora platform uses five optical lasers (ultraviolet, violet, blue, yellow-green, and red) to excite 40 fluorochromes on cellular antibodies, which are then recorded by 64 detectors.

With standard flow cytometry panels, a patient's blood sample must be separated into multiple tubes to identify biomarkers linked to different types of leukemia; however the Aurora platform only needs a single tube of blood to identify the fluorescent antibodies. While scientists still need to run controls prior to running a multicolor tube to measure the different emission spectra recorded by Aurora, they can save the controls in the software and reuse them with the same panel in future tests.

Wenbin Jiang, PhD, CEO of Cytek Biosciences, said, “After chemotherapy, no one really has that many bone marrow samples available for testing and splitting into several different tubes. But because you don't need to split blood samples into several tubes with Aurora, you can have more cells per tube, which leads to more specific results." Dr. Jiang also argued that the updated Aurora system can analyze up to 30,000 to 40,000 cells per second while maintaining a "competitive sensitivity." Flow cytometry platforms on the market currently offer anywhere from 20,000 to 100,000 cells per second, but not always at the sample level of multiplexing.

Steven A. Porcelli, MD, scientific director at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine Flow Cytometry Core (Bronx, NY, USA), said, “Cytek's tool collected light coming out over a wide range of wavelengths for each cell and for each laser that we've used to excite the cell. Instead of giving you a high or low value for a tracer, it allows you to distinguish many different tracers from each other because you create a kind of fingerprint of the wavelengths being emitted.”

Related Links:
Cytek Biosciences
Albert Einstein College of Medicine Flow Cytometry Core

Platinum Member
COVID-19 Rapid Test
OSOM COVID-19 Antigen Rapid Test
HLX
POCT Fluorescent Immunoassay Analyzer
FIA Go
Gold Member
Real-time PCR System
GentierX3 Series

Print article

Channels

Clinical Chemistry

view channel
Image: Reaching speeds up to 6,000 RPM, this centrifuge forms the basis for a new type of inexpensive, POC biomedical test (Photo courtesy of Duke University)

POC Biomedical Test Spins Water Droplet Using Sound Waves for Cancer Detection

Exosomes, tiny cellular bioparticles carrying a specific set of proteins, lipids, and genetic materials, play a crucial role in cell communication and hold promise for non-invasive diagnostics.... Read more

Molecular Diagnostics

view channel
Image: The cobas Malaria test is the first FDA-approved molecular test to screen U.S. blood donors for malaria (Photo courtesy of Roche)

First FDA-Approved Molecular Test to Screen Blood Donors for Malaria Could Improve Patient Safety

Malaria, a serious illness that often leads to death, is spread by a specific mosquito species that infect humans with a parasite. Other transmission modes include blood transfusions, organ transplants,... Read more

Hematology

view channel
Image: The low-cost portable device rapidly identifies chemotherapy patients at risk of sepsis (Photo courtesy of 52North Health)

POC Finger-Prick Blood Test Determines Risk of Neutropenic Sepsis in Patients Undergoing Chemotherapy

Neutropenia, a decrease in neutrophils (a type of white blood cell crucial for fighting infections), is a frequent side effect of certain cancer treatments. This condition elevates the risk of infections,... Read more

Pathology

view channel
Image: The medical office procedure detects the key biomarker in Parkinson’s and related neurodegenerative diseases (Photo courtesy of BIDMC)

Simple Skin Biopsy Test Detects Parkinson’s and Related Neurodegenerative Diseases

Parkinson's disease and a group of related neurodegenerative disorders known as synucleinopathies impact millions globally. These conditions, including Parkinson’s disease (PD), dementia with Lewy bodies... Read more
Copyright © 2000-2024 Globetech Media. All rights reserved.