Flow Cytometry and Mass Spectrometry fell in love and a new technology was born: Mass Cytometry, the best of both worlds.

As in conventional flow cytometry, cells within a heterogeneous sample are analysed on the single cell level for a multitude of parameters. However, instead of using fluorochrome-labelled antibodies to bind to the antigen of interest and being limited to the number of spectrally resolvable fluorochromes, mass cytometry uses metal isotope-labelled antibodies that are analysed by their time-of-flight (TOF). This allows for the analysis of currently >40 parameters per cell and a deep profiling of phenotype and function of cells.