Since the efforts associated with the sequencing of the human genome, biomedical research has continued to evolve in the measurement of the underlying molecular and physiological mechanisms of complex biological systems and networks. Tools for molecular and cell analysis have continued to evolve to address these new challenges and opportunities in many different biological fields. Flow cytometry, the tool of the trade of today’s immunologists, is a highly multi-parametric platform, capable of high speed quantitative assessment of cells and other particles, at the single cell level. Today, as we continue to innovate on our flow cytometry platforms, which are capable of reaching up to 50 parameters, flow cytometry is opening a range of new applications stemming from opportunities presented by the advancements of genomics, proteomics, systems immunology and biology. The inevitable impact of these efforts, are in turn impacting decisions in clinical diagnosis and advancements in a deeper understanding of cancer biology, vaccine development and drug discovery.
Today, with the introduction of new high parameter flow cytometry platforms (BD FACSymphony™ A3 and A5), the development of a large array of new Sirigen polymer fluorochromes and the completion of 2 studies for both mouse and human receptor density and expression, this year saw the demonstration of highly sensitive 25- to 28-color flow cytometry panels and the development of a High Dimensional Sorter (BD FACSymphony™ S6). In this presentation we will discuss a systematic strategy for successful panel design for high parameter multicolor assays, the enhanced technology innovation in the S6 sorter, and the comparison of panels run on the A5 analyzer and S6 cell sorter.