Flow Cytometry With New Capabilities

A new family of affordable flow cytometers for basic clinical research and drug discovery offers side-light scatter detection and a third fluorescent channel.

The Quanta SC of Beckman Coulter (Fullerton, CA, USA) delivers accurate, multiparameter cell counting and sizing. Up to five parameters can be studied at the same time on the new system. The additional fluorescent channel and side-light capability enable users to measure cellular granularity for simple three-color immunophenotyping applications. Since the system incorporates Coulter volume measurement, users can perform sensitive antigen-density studies, critical for understanding apoptosis processes in more detail.

Quanta's multiple excitation wavelengths, including ultraviolet (UV) and laser-light sources, allow flexible fluorochrome selection for a variety of multicolor analyses. The instrument comes with a powerful 488 nm laser diode for fluorescent and side-scatter analysis as well as a mercury arc lamp for use with UV-excitable dyes. The Quanta SC can analyze a variety of cellular types, including mammalian, yeast, and bacterial in research applications such as cell cycle, apoptosis, cellular enumeration and sizing, and basic immunophenotyping. The system's small footprint and affordability make it suited for distributed testing in non-core laboratories.

"With the Quanta SC's ability to measure more parameters, we expand the possibilities available to researchers for routine cell-based assays,” explained Brendan Yee, business manager of Beckman Coulter. "The Quanta SC with side scatter and additional fluorescent channel adds capabilities to a system that was already unique due to the incorporation of Coulter counting.” The company has more than 200,000 instrument systems installed around the world.





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