Advances in the field of flow cytometry have been tremendous, and even now there are many developments day-by-day, says Rohit Chakravorty, Application Specialist – Flow Cytometry, Sysmex India
It all started when Prof Dr Wolfgang Göhde, launched the world’s first Fluorescence Flow Cytometer in 1968. The original name of this technique was Pulse Cytophotometry, and he named it as ICP-11 (Immuno Cytophotometer). 10 years later in 1978, at the Conference of the American Engineering Foundation in Pensacola, Florida, the name was changed to flow cytometry. Since its inception, this technique has started developing interest in many scientists thereafter. Advances in this field have been tremendous, and even now there are many developments day-by-day.
Initially, flow cytometers were used as experimental devices in research institutes only. However, the uses and application of this instrument gained great momentum, and other industries have started to explore this technique too, and now it has become a major market. Today’s flow cytometers sport multiple lasers and fluorescence detectors, which aid users in labelling multiple antibodies and in identifying precisely a target population by its phenotype.
Apart from research segment, flow cytometry is now being applied in clinical, industrial, essential healthcare, agriculture, aquaculture, microbiology, etc. and the list goes on. People have now understood the importance of this technique, and are now improvising on its existing technical aspects. Advances in laser sources, sample preparation automation, detection sensitivity, digital-signal processing speed, rare-event analysis, and cell-sorting performance, coupled with a broad portfolio of reagents with a varying spectrum of dyes and fluorochromes, provide the tools necessary to answer questions in immune monitoring, immunophenotyping, stem-cell analysis, cell-signaling, and signal transduction.
Partec GmbH (pioneers of Flow Cytometers), has been acquired by Sysmex Corporation, Japan. Worldwide, there has been a tremendous boost to the clinical segment of flow cytometry. Partec (now Sysmex) being in the market since last 47 years, now along with the pioneers in clinical field, Sysmex would be soon launching a dedicated clinical flow cytometer for all the clinical application along with the reagents kit. There are some great innovations expected in the coming years when we see the association of flow cytometer with the best of hematology analysers, creating a haemat-flow technology. Already imaging flow cytometry has created a boom in the industry, and people are eyeing for new technologies and advances.
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