"Science" cover: a milestone in flow cytometry!

Image-based flow cytometry enables high-speed identification and isolation of cells of interest in complex cell pools

Technological breakthroughs have the potential to run a wide range of disciplines, from immunology and genomics to the study of cell-based therapies

BDX, a leading global medical technology company, announced today that a study conducted in collaboration with the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) and published as a cover story in the January 21 issue of Science, describes the use of flow cytometry in A new BD innovation that adds fluorescence imaging and image-based decision-making to classify individual cells at exceptionally high speed, based on the visual details of each cell, not just the type or number of biomarkers present

Cell sorting by flow cytometry is a technique that allows scientists to identify and sort individual cells based on specific characteristics of each cell in order to study them in greater detail, assess each cell's response to new drugs, or perform other single-cell experiments

Traditionally, cell sorters operate by identifying and quantifying certain biomarkers, such as proteins, on or within cells

BD's new innovation, called BD CellView™ imaging technology, can capture multiple images of a single cell flowing through the system at 15,000 cells per second, and also adds previously impossible Cell sorting capabilities of image analysis

By adding imaging to traditional biomarker identification and quantification, this new technology can identify not only whether and how much a biomarker is present, but also its location or its distribution within cells

"This innovation overcomes the typical trade-off between speed and accuracy for sorting individual cells," said Tom Polen, CEO and President of BD

Schematic for image cell sorting, developed by BD Biosciences and tested by EMBL

The new technology fills a long-standing gap in biomedical research, enabling scientists to more rapidly observe and isolate cells with specific, observable characteristics of interest, which could accelerate discovery research and have applications in a wide range of fields such as virology and oncology Unlock potential treatments or cures for diseases

"This technology represents more than a decade of work by a multidisciplinary team of optical, mechanical, electrical, biomedical and software engineers and scientists, and aims to provide researchers with a differentiated and flexible ability to analyze individual cells

In the study, published in Science, researchers used BD CellView™ to image a protein complex that plays an important role in cellular immunity and stress responses, NF-κB (the nuclear factor-kappa light chain enhancer) pathway

"For years, researchers have wanted a cell sorting system that would allow them to obtain a detailed picture of the inner workings of cells and isolate those with microscopic phenotypes of interest," said senior scientist at EMBL and professor of genetics at Stanford University.

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