The Cytometry Center provides assistance in the design, execution and analysis of flow cytometric experiments. Flow cytometry is the analysis of cells in suspension that gains its power and utility from collecting multiple simultaneous measurements from individual cells. Light scatter properties provide information concerning cell size and structure. Antibodies with distinguishable fluorescent labels can be used to measure the expression of cell surface and intracellular molecules.
Flow cytometry is typically considered a tool of immunological investigations to characterize cells of the immune system. However, flow cytometry can be applied to any types of cells that can be dissociated into single cell suspensions. The Cytometry Center and the Department of Physiology and Cell Biology have extended flow cytometry to identify, enumerate and characterize interstitial cells of Cajal (ICC, pacemaker cells) from gut muscles.
