Flow cytometry is a laboratory method that allows for the simultaneous measurement of multiple physical characteristics of cells and particles so that they can be classified and counted.
In the clinical laboratory, a flow cytometer is frequently used to isolate and fluorescently label blood cells based on "molecules of interest" associated with each cell type. Next, the instrument analyzes and stores information about the cells based on the amount of light scatter and the fluorescent light that is emitted.
Flow cytometry has many applications including:
- Immunophenotyping
- HIV disease assessment
- Transplant cellular distribution determination and CD3 suppression
- Leukemia/lymphoma diagnosis, staging, and minimal residual disease testing
- CD34 quantitation/Stem cell quantitation
- Fetal hemoglobin detection on red blood cells (RBCs)
- DNA ploidy determination
- Research, bacterial identification, population filtering, etc.
This course will focus on leukemia/lymphoma assessment and analysis.
