What is the purpose of flow cytometry?

Flow cytometry is a powerful technique used specifically to analyze the physical and chemical characteristics of cells. This method allows researchers to measure various properties of individual cells as they flow through a laser beam, providing information on cell size, complexity (granularity), and the expression of specific markers, often through staining with fluorescent dyes. This capacity to gather data on thousands of cells quickly makes flow cytometry invaluable in fields like immunology, cancer research, and cell biology.

In contrast, determining the chemical composition of solutions involves different methods such as spectroscopy or chromatography, and is not the primary purpose of flow cytometry. Culturing large numbers of microorganisms typically uses methods like broth or agar plating, which is unrelated to the analysis of individual cell characteristics. Measuring temperature of biological samples does not involve flow cytometry either; this is usually performed with thermal sensors or thermocouples, focusing instead on physical parameters rather than the cellular properties that flow cytometry provides.