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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 …

May 2021 Share

CTC Separation When a cancerous tumor is present in the human body, some of the tumor cells can be shed into blood or lymph vessels, where they travel through the bloodstream alone or in clusters. These cells are called circulating tumor cells (CTCs). Scientists can collect these cells for research purposes through a process called CTC separation. CTC separation is the process of CTC isolation from whole blood samples. Residual …

April 2021 Share

Spleen Cell Isolation Just as a gold mine has different areas with higher concentrations of gold, different parts of the body have different levels of T cells. In a mouse, the spleen cell culture is composed of around 100 million splenocytes. Splenocytes are mononuclear white blood cells (WBCs) derived from or situated in the spleen. T cells typically comprise roughly 25% of the total splenocyte population. While murine (relating to …

April 2021 Share

What are CD4 Cells? The human immune system is broken down into two major categories: the innate immune system and the adaptive immune system. The innate immune system is comprised of different physical, chemical, and cellular responses to pathogens that jump into action, offering general and non-specific first line defense when the immune system is called to act in an effort to contain the spread of pathogens. The adaptive immune …

April 2021 Share

Cell Separation Using Magnetic Beads Due to a constant demand for enriched cell samples, there are a variety of methods used to isolate and extract target cells from a mixture. One of the more common techniques is magnetic-activated cell sorting (MACS). MACS uses magnetic beads and a magnetic separation column to perform cell enrichment. MACS The goal of MACS, also called immunomagnetic cell separation, is to isolate a single cell …

April 2021 Share

Peripheral Blood Mononuclear Cells Within the human body, an interconnected system of cells works together to carry out a functional immune response. When presented with a harmful pathogen, a variety of lymphocytes and signaling molecules activate to combat and eradicate the threat. Scientists actively study this process to gain insight into possible routes for immunological research. One way to study the immune response is to look at peripheral blood mononuclear …

March 2021 Share

Peripheral Blood Mononuclear Cells PBMC stands for peripheral blood mononuclear cell. PBMCs are a variety of specialized immune cells that work together to protect our bodies from harmful pathogens. Their location in peripheral blood is significant because they act as a line of defense from infection and disease. PBMCs are typically collected by isolation from whole blood samples.  Where do PBMCs Come From? PBMCs are developed in the bone marrow …

March 2021 Share

What Is a Buffy Coat? In a sample of peripheral whole blood, less than 1% of the cells are white blood cells (WBCs) and platelets. When researchers put the sample through a centrifuge, a machine that spins the blood, those WBCs and platelets combine to form their own layer suspended between the red blood cells (RBCs) and supernatant plasma. This thin layer is called a buffy coat because of its …

October 2020 Share

Figuring out how to separate cells is an important part of any medical researcher’s job. There are a multitude of ways to sort different types of substances and the right process often depends on what you’re trying to isolate. One of the quicker and cheaper ways to sort a sample based only on physical characteristics is with centrifugation. Density Gradient Centrifugation The process of centrifugation allows scientists to separate substances …