Expanding the utility of flow cytometry in the future:
multitasking with suspension array technology
Francis F. Mandy
National
Laboratory for HIV Immunology, Center of Infectious Disease Prevention and
Control, Health Canada, Ottawa ON, Canada
With the
beginning of the 21st century the development of hybrid flow cytometry is helping to expand cytomics. There is an analogy between mobile phones and
hybrid flow cytometry. There is a wide spread implementation of
mobile phone technology in resource challenged regions where there is also
great demand for low cost diagnostic laboratory services. Just as the tri-band wireless communication
technology is not a compromise in technology nor is the proposed multitasking
hybrid flow cytometry platform. Recent developments make it possible to
integrate solid phase molecular and cell based immuno-assays
to provide a gateway to more cost effective diagnostic solutions. In resource poor regions, diagnostic assays
for various infectious diseases are desperately needed. At the same time, CD4 T-cell enumeration
continues to be the hallmark test for staging and monitoring HIV disease. The cost of conventional flow cytometry dedicated to T-cell immunophenotyping
is prohibitive for most resource poor regions.
Consequently, it is important to explore if an instrument platform with
a wide array of bead and cell based assays can provide sufficient diagnostic
breadth and diversity to be robust and cost effective. This is a brief report about such
effort. The objective was to generate a
series of robust multiplexed assay protocols compatible with hybrid or dual-function
flow cytometry.
Six modules, including a ten-plexed secreted
cytokine assay, are under developed for a multitasking platform system built
around a commercially available hybrid flow cytometer. The data is beginning to accumulate from
numerous investigators. It is predicted
that the multitasking platform will emerge as a no-compromise technology. Commencing its tour of duty in