Development of Custom Flow Cytometry Instrumentation James Freyer1

							Development of Custom Flow Cytometry Instrumentation

James Freyer1, Steven Graves2
1
  Biosciences Division, Los Alamos National Laboratory, MS M888, Los Alamos, NM, 87545, 2Center for Biomedical Engineering, University
of New Mexico, Centennial Engineering Center, MSC01 1141, 1 University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM, 87131

Commercial flow cytometers and cell sorters have been available for the better part of three decades. Increased applications in the past five years
have driven a marked increase in new instruments/companies. Focus areas in flow cytometry instrumentation improvement include low cost
and/or smaller instruments, microfluidic designs, higher throughput analysis and sorting, increased analysis parameters, non-optical analysis
methods, field-based particle manipulation methods and extension of flow cytometry to both smaller (e.g. molecules) and larger (e.g. cell
aggregates) particles. Many of the innovations eventually incorporated in commercial instruments have their genesis in basic R&D pursued by
several groups focused on pushing the boundaries of flow cytometry technologies. This workshop will highlight several of the recent technical
developments being pursued by non-commercial research groups. Areas to be highlighted include: low cost portable flow cytometry; field-based
manipulation (acoustic, dielectrophoretic, inertial); microfluidic systems; full spectral resolution; fluorescence lifetime analysis; Raman scattering
analysis; compact digital data systems; and in-line sample preparation methods. The first part of this workshop will consist of several 15-minute
presentations describing cutting edge R&D in several of these instrumentation development areas. The second part will be a hands-on
demonstration of several new instrument designs, with a group of flow cytometry instrumentation development experts available for
demonstrations and to answer questions. This workshop should be of interest to researchers interested in flow cytometry instrumentation
development, as well as biomedical researchers and flow core facility operators who want a more in-depth view of the future of flow cytometers.