BD launches commercial sale of cell-sorting technology

Featured in the journal Science and unveiled at last year’s International Society for Advancement of Cytometry CYTO conference, BD’s first-of-its-kind cell-sorting technology has now launched commercially worldwide. 

The Franklin Lakes medical technology company reiterated in a May 18 announcement that the BD FACSDiscover S8 Cell Sorter features two “breakthrough” technologies that allow researchers to discover detailed information about cells previously unseen in traditional flow cytometry experiments. 

Joel Sederstrom, director of flow cytometry core at the Baylor College of Medicine, called the instrument “the next level of expansion in cytometry technologies.” 

“Now, we can not only view and analyze an image of a cell but sort based on that image. This new technology will give us an opportunity with our investigators to push some of the boundaries of science. With our Center of Excellence with BD, we can investigate aspects of single cell biology that we could not before,” Sederstrom continued in a statement. 

The instrument’s two breakthrough capabilities are: 

• BD CellView Image Technology, which allows researchers to see detailed microscopic images of individual cells and sort at high speeds based on visual characteristics to confirm insights in real time.  
• BD SpectralFX Technology, allowing researchers to achieve full-spectrum cell sorting and to perform high-parameter experiments within a simplified workflow.  

This new instrument can be used in fields such as drug discovery, immuno-oncology and genomics, according to BD. 

“Together, we believe our BD CellView Image Technology and BD SpectralFX Technology usher in a new era of cell sorting and analysis to enable researchers to answer complex biological questions, such as how cells grow, function and interact, or to study exact locations of viruses or proteins within a cell, at a highly accelerated pace,” said Steve Conly, worldwide president of BD Biosciences.  

The BD FACSDiscover S8 Cell Sorter is now available to order globally online and through local sales representatives.