Immunophenotyping has undergone a seismic change in less than two decades as panel sizes have increased in complexity from <10 to >40 colors. Let’s explore how immunophenotyping is transforming the field and how KCAS Bio is at the forefront of this…

Biologics are drugs derived from complex molecules like antibodies. Over the last two decades they have re-emerged as…

In recent years, immunology…

Due to its ability to analyze multiple parameters across different cell types within a sample, flow cytometry provides 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 in equipment and technical training.

Many scientists performing preclinical and clinical research hit a point when they need to have an assay validated. You may have painstakingly developed and perfected a particular assay, but now you must put it through the rigors of validation for it to be considered a “validated assay.” The basic principles of assay validation were described in an earlier blog post, but how do you know you if you need an assay validated? Use these questions as a guide to help you figure out your validation situation and get a little less vexed about validation.

Flow cytometry is a powerful tool for surveying the cellular landscape during preclinical development of drugs and biologics. But flow cytometry can go beyond immunophenotyping to actual functional measurements that can contribute to understanding the true potential of a therapeutic candidate. To make the most of your flow cytometry studies, consider these other assays as you plan the next phase of preclinical development.

The flow cytometry market is filled with an abundance of products for mouse and human samples. But what if your studies use different species? Fortunately, many antibodies for standard cell markers can work on multiple species, and more species-specific reagents are becoming available.

There is no question that the discovery of vaccines spearheaded the path of modern medicine and in so doing, eradicated at least two diseases, smallpox, and rinderpest from the global population. Today’s modern vaccines are being developed not only to tackle infectious diseases but also for the treatment and prevention of autoimmune diseases and cancers. Whereas vaccines for infectious diseases and cancer are designed to provoke a specific Th 1-driven immune response to target and reject the tumor or pathogen, vaccines driving Th 2 responses appear to be the best at targeting autoimmune diseases. Understanding the driving factors behind these underlying responses is central to the development of safe and effective vaccines, and flow cytometry provides unprecedented clarity on how the immune system responds to different vaccine strategies. 

The term 'Dendritic Cells' (DCs) represents a family of immune cells derived from CD34+ hematopoietic stem cells in the bone marrow, with various functions that provide a key link between the innate and adaptive immune responses. The most widely described function of DCs is to capture, process, and present antigens to adaptive immune cells and mediate their transition to effector functions. In fact, DCs are the only antigen-presenting cells capable of stimulating naïve T-cells. In recent years, DCs have become the focus of translational research efforts to describe the role these cells play in allergies, autoimmunity, and cancer as well as their role in vaccine responses. In this blog, we explore the flow cytometry approaches used to examine DCs and their potential as therapeutic targets.

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?