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Background: What is Flow Cytometry?
The COPAS Large Particle Flow Cytometers are based on the same principles
as flow cytometry.
- Flow cytometry is a technology that simultaneously measures multiple biophysical characteristics of particles as they flow one at a time in the center of a fluid stream past a beam of LASER light.
- Traditional flow cytometry is typically used for single cell analysis.
- While COPAS large particle flow cytometers are fundamentally similar to single cell flow cytometers, they differ in certain, critical design elements which permit the analysis and sorting of larger objects such as cell clusters, multicellular organisms, and other large particles. Some differences are noted in the below table.
Comparison of Conventional Cytometers and COPAS Cytometers
| Conventional flow cytometers |
COPAS Large Particle Flow Cytometers |
| Particle size = 1 –100µ |
Particle size = 20 – 1500µ |
| Size = Forward Scatter |
Size = Time of Flight |
| Density = Side Scatter |
Density = Extinction |
| PMTs = 2 – 10 |
PMTs = 3 |
| Pressure = 12 – 60 PSI |
Pressure = 2 – 5 PSI |
| Sorting = Electromagnetic |
Sorting = Pneumatic |
| FL = Mostly LOG scale |
FL = Linear scale |
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