With the rapid progress of immune-monitoring drug development, flow cytometry has found itself increasingly at the forefront of clinical trial assessment of safety and efficacy. This is not without challenges since flow cytometry analysis can be complicated and expensive, too often employs idiosyncratic experimental and analytical methods. So how can a platform without standardized methods and processes, be successfully applied to evaluate clinical endpoints? Several novel approaches to instrument calibration and experimental design are now helping to establish the harmonization of flow cytometry across multiple clinical labs. In this blog, we explore the importance of flow cytometry instrument setup and maintenance when analyzing samples from clinical trials.

In several of our blogs, we have discussed the power of flow cytometry to identify unique cell populations, both rare and abundant. Flow cytometry also offers the opportunity to actually sort out the cells of interest for a variety of downstream applications. Fluorescence Activated Cell Sorting (FACS) and immunomagnetic cell sorting (MACS) are two of the most widely used methods for the isolation of phenotypically identified cells. Read more to make sense of FACS, MACS, and finding the best separation strategy for your needs.

What is the primary role of Natural Killer (NK) cells? Natural killer (NK) cells are the predominant innate immune cells that mediate anti-tumor and anti-viral responses, and therefore possess good clinical utilization (Abel et al. 2018). Natural killer cells comprise 10–15% of peripheral blood lymphocytes and classically display a half-life of approximately 7–10 days in the circulation (Moretta et al. 2000).

Due to its ability to analyze multiple parameters across different cell types within a sample, flow cytometry can provide very rich and clinically valuable data sets from even small volumes of blood. However, flow cytometry is a challenging platform to master, and requires significant investment into equipment and technical training. So, for many researchers, outsourcing flow cytometry to a Contract Research Organization (CROs) is both cost-effective and the best way to ensure the highest quality of data from their samples. So, what types of flow cytometry applications are the most outsourced to CROs?

Why is Viability Staining so important for flow cytometry analysis? It seems pretty easy, just mix your cells with antibody conjugates, incubate, wash and you are ready to acquire, but actually cell staining for flow cytometry analysis is far from simple, particularly when it comes to the optimal distinguishing of rare cell populations, or in the deciphering of a complex immune response. There are some key considerations to optimizing flow cytometry cell staining and it requires a disciplined approach to understand the impact of certain steps on the staining process. So, how well do you plan and optimize your staining conditions to ensure the highest quality of flow cytometry data? In this blog, we explore some rules of thumb for Good Staining Practices for flow cytometry

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If you missed our webinar on April 22nd of 2020, you can check it out below! Often, when confronted with outsourcing and looking for laboratories for your discovery projects, turnaround times and cost are two very important factors. Quality and reliability of data generated are of course essential as well. How do you…

How will your background in science play a role in your new Senior Scientific Advisor position? I feel that my skill set has evolved consistently since my graduate degrees where I’ve learned different yet complimentary lessons about data presentation, data interpretation, marketing, customer partnering, optimizing operational processes, customer management and…

At KCAS, our Discovery group performs bioanalytical / biomarker method development that can include any of the various components required for a validated method under the GLP guidelines.  So why is Discovery group needed?  The beginning stage of drug development is a stage of trial and error.  It is generally…

KCAS is a progressive growing contract research organization with dedicated groups in pharmaceutical services to perform early stage discovery rapid method development and analysis, as well as, regulated preclinical and clinical phases, with support offered through NDA submission. We have an arsenal of top of the line instrumentation with a…

Animal health programs have consistently been supported by KCAS with increasing study complexities although they have constituted a small percentage of the overall pharmaceutical development, these programs have consistently been supported by KCAS with increasing study complexities. ANIMAL HEALTH – LABORATORY SUPPORT KCAS is not only centrally located in…