Flow cytometry is the science of examining physical and chemical properties of live cells, beads or other biological particles as they pass in a fluid stream through a measuring apparatus. This apparatus, known as a flow cytometer, uses laser excitation and signal detection to measure parameters such as size, shape, DNA content, surface receptors, enzyme activity, membrane permeability and calcium flux. Some flow cytometers, called sorters, are equipped to separate and collect cells or beads of interest. High-performance flow cytometers and high-speed cell sorters have applications in cancer and HIV research, drug discovery, stem cell and gene therapy.

The Ottawa Hospital Research Institute Flow Cytometry Facility, located at the General Campus of the Ottawa Hospital, was established in 1998 and now includes three flow cytometers, two of which have sorting capabilities. We offer the sorting precision required for the isolation of rare cell populations with high purity and yield, up to 20 000 events per second. As well as sorting, flow cytometers allow the simultaneous analysis of a variety of light scatter and fluorescence parameters on single cells.