INEXPENSIVE MODULAR FLOW CYTOMETERS: A NEW GENERATION

尽管流式细胞仪在生物学和医学的许多领域已经成为研究细胞正常和异常行为的研究人员不可或缺的工具，但设备的购置成本仍然很高。激光、试剂和电子技术的最新进展，现在使得使用廉价的二极管和固态激光源，以及数字信号处理电子设备，可以匹配甚至在某些情况下超过现有仪器的性能，而价格只是一小部分的多参数流式细胞仪成为可能。该项目将开发和测试一种低成本的流式细胞仪，并评估提高此类仪器性能的光学和电子方法。拟议的商业应用正在开发的仪器应该使一项重要的技术可供数百个实验室使用，这些实验室现在负担不起。

Although flow cytometers have become indispensable to researchers in many areas of biology and medicine who study the normal and abnormal behavior of cells, acquisition costs of apparatus remain high. Recent advances in laser, reagent and electronic technology now make it possible to build multiparameter flow cytometers using inexpensive diode and solid-state laser sources, with digital signal processing electronics, which can match, and in some cases, surpass the performance of existing instruments for a fraction of the price. This project will develop and test a low-cost flow cytometer, and evaluate optical and electronic approaches to improving performance of such instruments. PROPOSED COMMERCIAL APPLICATION The apparatus to be developed should make an important technology available to hundreds of laboratories not now able to afford it.