Blog

November 2022 Share

Peripheral blood circulates within the human body carrying nutrients, chemical messengers, water, and a wide variety of cell types. An array of bone marrow-derived hematopoietic cells – white blood cells and red blood cells –  distribute into all areas of the body to defend against invaders and carry oxygen, respectively The most common clinical use for whole blood involves trauma or serious injury in which the patient has lost significant …

August 2022 Share

Types of Cell Separation: Differences Between Extraction and Applications for Separation Assays Cell separation is an integral step in various research areas including, but not limited to, immunology, cell therapy, and single cell sequencing. The isolation of a specific cell population allows the behaviors of the individual cell type to be studied without interference from other cells. The cellular isolation strategy varies depending on the cell subset of interest.  Deciding …

August 2022 Share

Human B Cell Isolation: Protocol and Purpose B cells and T cells share a common goal: to protect the human body from harmful pathogens. While some cell subsets are more commonly known than others, each cell type is essential to maintaining health. For example, B cells are commonly known, but what some may not realize is their function is to make antibodies, regulatory proteins, and cytokines to aid lesser known …

December 2021 Share

Antigens are molecules present on the surface of cells that bind to receptors on antibodies or on the surface of lymphocytes. Antigens are classified based on where they originate, and the immune system discriminates between native and foreign antigens in order to fight against pathogens. Immunology research utilizes the binding properties of antigens with antibodies in order to detect, track, and isolate specific cell populations within blood samples. Self vs …

December 2021 Share

In working with biological samples for life science research, sample preparation is a critical first step to isolate the specific cells of interest from a complex mixture. This is especially true when looking to isolate rare cells of low abundance, and it is critically important when working with delicate cell types that the sample preparation method used for cell isolation is exceptionally gentle so that it does not interfere with …

November 2021 Share

Sample preparation is often a critical first step in any number of life science workflows. Due to the inherent complexity within samples and diversity between applications, sample preparation needs can vary widely. One common first step is a “cleanup” step to deplete residual red blood cells (RBCs) from the sample before proceeding with downstream analysis. Once the RBCs have been depleted, the resulting blood product can be used across many …

November 2021 Share

High Throughput Human T Cell Enrichment The field of immunological research is continuously expanding. More and more things are being discovered on a cellular and molecular level. Cell separation and enrichment has become an integral part of studying our immune cell behaviors. One of the most significant challenges in the research community has been finding a high throughput T cell enrichment method that can be used to isolate high volumes …

September 2021 Share

The stages of cell death vary depending on the way in which a cell dies. When discussing cell death, there are two main types: apoptosis and necrosis. Each of these involves a unique process and has different effects on the rest of the body. What is Cell Apoptosis? Programmed cell death is called apoptosis, a regular growth, and development mechanism within an organism. This process is also known as “cellular …

September 2021 Share

The human immune system is made up of many different cells–some of which are responsible for identifying unfamiliar pathogens, some of which recognize familiar pathogens, and some that attack anything harmful to the host. There are many moving parts that must cooperate to properly defend against foreign particles and diseases. These interactions between cells and pathogens are maintained and controlled by specialized lymphocytes called regulatory T cells. What Are Regulatory …

May 2021 Share

FACS vs. Flow Cytometry As medical research becomes more advanced, scientists must use more complex technology to identify, separate, and prepare cells for downstream applications. Two popular methods for this include flow cytometry and fluorescence activated cell sorting. In the field of cell sorting and analysis, the terms flow cytometry and fluorescence activated cell sorting (FACS) are often used interchangeably. While each harness light scattering techniques and flowing cell samples …