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DPSS Lasers for Flow Cytometry

What is Flow Cytometry?

Flow cytometry is a powerful laboratory technique used to analyse individual cells based on their physical and chemical properties. This is the process:

 

  1. Cell suspension: a single-cell suspension is prepared from a blood sample, tissue culture or othe biological source

  2. Hydrodynamic focusing: The cell suspension is injected into a narrow stream of fluid and directed into a focused light beam, typically from a laser.

  3. Light scatter and fluorescence distribution: As each cell passes through the laser beam, it scatters light and may emit fluorescent light if stained with specific markers.

  4. Signal detection: Detectors capture the scattered light and fluorescent signals, which are processed and analysed by a computer.

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Traditional flow cytometry has  limitations, relying as it often does on fluorescent labeling for cellular phenotyping. To overcome this, a type of flow cytometry based on direct measurements by Raman spectroscopy, or Raman flow cytometry, has emerged.

What Flow Cytometry reveals:

By analysing the intensity and wavelength of the scattered light and fluorescence signals, flow cytometry can reveal various attributes of a cell:

Size and granularity: The amount of light scattered provides information about the cell's size and the complexity fo its internal structures.

Cell surface molecules: Specific antibodies tagged with fluorescent molecules can bind to unique proteins on the cell surface, allowing researchers to identify and quantify cell types.

Internal features: Certain dyes can penetrate cells and stain specific components like DNA or RNA, providing insights into cell cycle, viability and other characteristics.

 

Benefits of flow cytometry:

High-throughput: Flow cytometry can analyse thousands of cells per second

Multi-parameter: Simultaneous measurement of multiple cellular characteristics, giving a comprehensive picture of the cell population.

Versatility: A wide range of applications in many fields including immunology, oncology, stem cell research and drug testing and development.


Here are some real-world applications of flow cytometry:

  • Identifying and counting different types of white blood cell in a sample.

  • Analysing the health and viability of cells in a tissue culture.

  • Detecting the presence of cancer cells in a biopsy.

  • Monitoring the response of cells to a new treatment.

CW C-DPSS single frequency lasers for flow cytometry

Skylark NX lasers provide ultra-narrow linewidths with ultra-stable output to ensure precise and consistent excitation of fluorochromes.

 

While absorption based applications do not require single frequency performance due to absorption bandwidths typically being much wider than the laser’s emission, single frequency lasers reduce spectral overlap and minimise spillover between channels — enabling the measurement of multiple parameters with high accuracy. 

 

The visible wavelength lasers in our portfolio at 640 and 532 nm allow for reliable cytometry far from the autofluorescence wavelengths  —  increasing signal-to-noise ratio.

 

The UV lasers at 320 and 349 nm enable you to image with unique markers within a region with no channel overlap. They are also a cost-effective and practical replacement for traditionally used laser sources in flow cytometry applications. 

 

Each laser has a compact footprint that integrates into existing systems with turnkey operation and no continual maintenance requirements. 

Skylark Lasers are ideal for Flow Cytometry

Skylark Lasers offers high power, single frequency laser sources with excellent beam quality and spectral purity. With long-term power and wavelength stability, our compact lasers are ideal for multiple flow cytometry applications, such as:

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  • Cell sorting

  • Cell analysis

  • Nanoparticle analysis

  • Fluorescence detection

  • Immunophenotyping

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Let us tailor your perfect laser solution

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