Sample Preparation and Cell Surface Staining

Abstract

Now that we are familiar with the instrumentation, how do we go about preparing our biological samples to utilize all this technology? Rochelle Diamond et al present a discussion on various methodologies to make the all-important single cell mono-dispersed samples. They provide protocols for cleaning up debris, getting rid of dead cells, and ways to enrich for the investigator’s particular population of interest. Alice Givans follows with an in-depth description of the fundamentals for cell surface staining with antibodies. This is the bedrock of much flow cytometry, as we know it. Andrew Beavis then takes us to another level of staining with two chapters on complex multicolor flow cytometry using different techniques to reach the same goal. David McFarland and Gary Durack give us an entirely different perspective on measuring exterior proteins by providing a means of encapsulating cells to entrap and measure their secreted products.