Flow Cytometry

Flow Cytometry (the measurement of cells through flow) utilizes a technique whereby cells or particles are hydrodynamically forced within their stream and run by a laser in a single line resulting in each cell scattering light and/or producing a  fluorescent signal that is collected by photon detectors. The detectors send these signals to a  computer which records the data as each cell flies by. What started over 40 years ago as a simple cell counter has evolved into Hi speed sorting machines capable of "seeing" over 20 colors that have bead excited by onboard lasers. These hi speed cell sorters are able to sort rare cell types at a rate of over 50,000 cells per second. Some of the options available today include robotics to introduce the samples to the machine. These allow operators to run 384 well plates of cells where the machine dips into each well sipping the sample for a second before moving to the next well. Robotics on the exiting end are also available, these allow the user to deposit single cells into dishes or multi-well  plates.

For an in depth tutorial please click below. The above image is from this link.

http://www.invitrogen.com/site/us/en/home/support/Tutorials.html