Turner Designs PhytoCyt flow cytometer

Turner Designs has introduced the PhytoCyt flow cytometer, a cell analysis system developed in partnership with Accuri cytometers. The system is suitable for applications that monitor the health of marine and freshwater environments.

Compact (58 x 43 cm), lightweight (<13 kg), sturdy, easy to use and with no special power requirements, the system is easy to maintain and service. The unit works as well on board a ship as in a traditional laboratory.

The flow cytometer includes blue and red lasers, two scatter detectors and four fluorescence detectors. The optical filters and lasers used in the system have been optimised for the detection of the endogenous fluorophores common to phytoplankton, including phycoerythrin, chlorophyll and phycocyanins. One of the detectors has been optimised for green fluorescence detection, which allows labelling with exogenous reagents, if desired. The peristaltic pump system used for sample delivery allows the volume sampled, and thus absolute counts of populations, to be determined while still maintaining the advantages of hydrodynamic focusing for small particle detection.