Flow cytometry is the analytical tool that helps analyze single cells or particle characteristics using multiple lasers. In the pharmaceutical sector, flow cytometers have become an accessible tool for analyzing different characteristics of cells, such as granularity, shape, size, and complexity. In most cases, this analytical tool has been used for immunophenotyping, such as determining cell viability, changes in immune cell population, and cell proliferation rates. With accurate flow cytometer analysis, researchers can isolate pure cell populations for drug development, determine the underlying cause of disease, treatment and research. The increasing cases of chronic diseases necessitates the flow cytometry analysis tools to understand the morphology of the disease. However, the growing adoption of cell analysis technology also increases the highly skilled personnel requirement to enhance the overall investment. Moreover, the conventional flow cytometers are unable to unable to handle large volumes of samples and consume time.
To address these concerns, key players in the field are actively taking initiatives to improve existing flow cytometry modalities to enhance working efficiency and accuracy by using advanced technologies. In this context, let’s take a deep dive at the top innovations ongoing in this field and companies enrolled in the flow cytometry market.
Top Innovations in the Flow Cytometry Market
The current flow cytometry market players are emphasizing customized assay development services that enable an analysis of different types of immune cells for various clinical and non-clinical studies, particularly cell line development. However, the primary focus will be enhancing the capabilities to identify cells and applications. Examples of top innovations that have taken place in the flow cytometry market are listed below:
▪ High-Parameter Flow Cytometry
The traditional flow cytometers help to analyze only a limited number of cell parameters simultaneously. To overcome the issues, pharmaceutical companies adopted advanced flow cytometry technology and innovation systems such as mass cytometry and spectral flow cytometry that enable the measurement of various parameters at the single-cell level. This dynamic multiplicity capabilities of advanced flow cytometry offer researchers an in-depth insight into the complexity of the immune cell population, enabling researchers to achieve comprehensive profiling of diverse cellular phenotypes.
The high parameter flow cytometry helps to overcome the limitations of conventional flow cytometry systems. Furthermore, high-parameter flow cytometry provides new avenues of research, specifically in the field where cell characterization of subtle cellular differences is essential. The ability to analyze a wide array of parameters improves the researcher’s ability to identify the heterogeneity within the cell population and also helps determine the biomarkers associated with the disease and therapeutic response.
▪ Single-Cell Analysis
The ongoing advances in flow cytometry, including integrating single-cell analysis techniques to determine the function of single cells and heterogeneity, enable researchers to gain better insight into the epigenetic modifications, gene expression, metabolic activity, and signaling pathways of isolated cells. Furthermore, the flow cytometry market players emphasize integrating single-cell analysis techniques to study the interaction between nearby cells and their surrounding environment. These advances are useful for understanding the biological processes of cells, such as development, differentiation, disease, and infection.
Some leading single-cell analysis methods integrated with flow cytometry cell sorting have recently included single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq). This technology helps to gain better insight into gene expression profiles, transcriptomics of cells, single-cell proteomics, and cell-to-cell interaction inside heterogeneous populations. Furthermore, to understand the metabolic status, single-cell metabolomics and nuclear magnetic resonance have been combined with flow cytometry.
▪ Multiplexed Assays
The introduction of multiplexed flow cytometry assays enables research to measure multiple analytes within a single cell sample simultaneously. The methodology involves fluorescently labeled antibodies that target different cellular analytes and markers. These multiplexed assays offer comprehensive information about protein expression profiles, cell phenotypes, cytokine secretion patterns, and signaling pathway activities. The technique enhances throughput and efficacy in biomarker discovery, functional analysis, and immunophenotyping.
In order to enhance the process, innovations such as high-throughput sorting applications capable of sorting up to 10,000 cells per second and multicolor fluorescent proteins that may expand the range of identifiable signals have been used.
▪ Microfluidic Flow Cytometry
The most advantageous innovation in flow cytometry is the utilization of microfluidic devices. These microfluidic flow cytometry devices help to automate the cell sorting process, thereby reducing the time required for sample processing. Additionally, microfluidic flow cytometry offers several significance over conventional flow cytometers, such as reduced reagent consumption and sample volume and enhanced cell sorting with a higher accuracy level. Microfluidic flow cytometry cell sorting has been done based on numerous principles such as acoustic waves, dielectrophoresis, magnetic fields, and optical forces. The benefits offered by microfluidic flow cytometry also save cost, reduce the chances of contamination, enhance downstream analysis, and enable cell sorting based on size and shape.
▪ Imaging Flow Cytometry
This advanced flow cytometry has the capabilities of flow cytometry and high-resolution imaging. It allows the analysis and visualization of cellular morphology, subcellular structure, and spatial arrangement at the single-cell level. By capturing images of the single cells, researchers can gain information about cellular phenotypes, cellular interactions, and intracellular localization of proteins, thereby facilitating comprehensive phenotyping of the cells.
Flow Cytometry Future Perspectives
Flow cytometry cell sorting is a fast-growing method that is continually refined and modified to suit medical research’s demands and challenges. In the near future, there will be several chances to create innovative biomarkers and assays for improved sensitivity and specificity in cell classification and separation. Quality control and validation procedures can also be used to verify the sorting results and data are consistent and reproducible. Furthermore, some initiatives under flow cytometry cell sorting instruments as well as and more accessible and inexpensive, allowing more researchers to adopt this technology in their laboratories and clinics.
The flow cytometry market players are also focusing on integrating artificial intelligence and machine learning algorithms with flow cytometry data analysis. This approach enables automated identification, classification, and interpretation of various cell populations and phenotypes. The integration of AI-driven tools enhances data processing dimensionality and biomarker discovery.
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