Nanoscale Flow Cytometry

See things created by cells, not just in or on them

 

Some call them small particles, microparticles or sub-micron particles--particles that go down to 80 nm. Regardless of what you call them, you want to characterize them by flow cytometry. At Beckman Coulter Life Sciences, we call this Nanoscale Flow Cytometry.

We’ve built a few key advancements into our CytoFLEX platform that make it an attractive platform for studying nanoparticles such as extracellular vesicles(EVs) and viruses. These advancements include: 

  • increased sensitivity in scatter detection
  • the ability to record a large numbers of events, while
  • simultaneously phenotypically characterizing cells in addition to nanoparticles.

 

Cytoflex diagram particle sizes

"Figure 1. The CytoFLEX Platform allows you to see a dynamic range of cells"

 

Leukemia Virus Expressing

Analysis of fluorescently labeled enveloped viruses. (A) Avian leukosisvirus expressing superfolderGFP (ALVsfGFP). (B) Murine Leukemia Virus expressing eGFP(MLVeGFP). (C) HSV-1(TK-strain) and (D) Vaccinia (VVDD strain) labeled with the dye carboxyfluoresceinsuccinimidylester (CFSE). The diameter sizes for these viruses (top right of eachpanel) are as reported in literature and determined by electron microscopy.
Data kindly provided by Vera A. Tang, Ph.D. and Marc-André Langlois, Ph.D., University of Ottawa.

CytoFLEX Platform

  

Size Matters

The CytoFLEX is capable of measuring side scatter off of the violet and blue laser, increasing the range of particles detected and analyzed in the sample. The smaller violet (405 nm) wavelength results in more orthogonal light scattering at any particle size than the blue (488 nm) wavelength, and increases the range of resolution than can be detected by standard side scatter. 


The use of violet light will help to amplify the differences in the refractive indices between the particles and their surrounding media, and in turn increases the ability to detect particles with a lower refractive index, such as exosomes, microvesicles and silica nanoparticles.

  

The CytoFLEX Platform continues to push the boundaries of what is possible. All versions of the CytoFLEX equipped with the 405nm violet laser are capable of detecting 80 nm polystyrene beads welcoming researchers into the sub-micron world.

Now that flow cytometry is sensitive enough to detect so small, people are using it in their research of: extracellular vesicles, viruses, algae, milk, plants, and more. 


"The potential to combine small particle analysis with the detection of up to 13 additional fluorescence parameters makes this cytometer an outstanding instrument for extracellular vesicle detection."
-Andreas Spittler, MD. Associate Professor for Pathophysiology, Medical University of Vienna, Core Facility Flow Cytometry & Department of Surgery, Research Laboratories