cytometry and microscopy
Intracellular staining and Fc block
When to block Fc receptors, and how to order surface stain, fixation and intracellular antibody so sticky cells do not fake a result.
8 October 2026 · 8 min read
Topic cluster
Cytometry and microscopy
How flow cytometers and fluorescence microscopes generate a signal, and which controls make that signal interpretable.
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26 articles
cytometry and microscopy
Microscopy resolution is not magnification
Why numerical aperture and wavelength set resolution, and how empty magnification enlarges blur without separating detail.
8 October 2026 · 7 min read
cytometry and microscopy
Objectives immersion and coverslip thickness
How to match air, water, oil or silicone immersion and the engraved coverslip thickness so a high-NA objective can form a sharp image.
8 October 2026 · 8 min read
cytometry and microscopy
Panel design starts with the biology
Which biology, antigen density and spillover rules to name before you assign fluorophores or request a cytometer configuration.
8 October 2026 · 7 min read
cytometry and microscopy
Photobleaching and exposure time
How to tell photobleaching from a dim label, and when to change exposure, illumination, binning or gain before the signal is gone.
8 October 2026 · 7 min read
cytometry and microscopy
Questions before an instrument enquiry
Which lasers, detectors, filters, formats and sample constraints to answer before you ask for a cytometer or microscope quotation.
8 October 2026 · 7 min read
cytometry and microscopy
Recording instrument settings with the experiment
Which voltages, thresholds, compensation matrices, lots and gate hierarchies to store so another person can repeat the run.
8 October 2026 · 7 min read
cytometry and microscopy
Sample filters and clogged nozzles
How to match a sample filter to the nozzle or flow-cell class, and what to do when the event rate collapses from a clog.
8 October 2026 · 8 min read
cytometry and microscopy
Scale bars and what an image can claim
How a calibrated scale bar, a linear lookup table and an unsaturated image decide what a research fluorescence figure may claim.
8 October 2026 · 7 min read
cytometry and microscopy
Single-stain controls
How to build single-stain controls that are bright enough for compensation, and when to branch to cells, beads, or a fresh tube.
8 October 2026 · 8 min read
cytometry and microscopy
Spectral overlap in a simple three-colour panel
What emission overlap, spillover, spreading and a filter window mean when three fluorophores share one cytometer layout.
8 October 2026 · 7 min read
cytometry and microscopy
Troubleshooting a cytometer with no events
What no events means on a cytometer: clog, threshold, trigger, sheath, interlock, or a tube that is not actually sipping.
8 October 2026 · 7 min read