HOW?
DRAQ7 can be excited across the visible spectrum, from blue to red.
No other chromophore we have checked behaves like this. And, it's easy:
- Split a sample. Stain half with antibody panel alone and half with antibody panel + DRAQ7
- Analyse each on a flow cytometer with at least two lasers (from blue to red)
- Plot all the red and far-red channels against each other
- Choose a bi-exponential plot with clearly separated double-positive events (in +DRAQ7 tube)
- These are the DRAQ7+ dead cells - draw a gate to exclude them
- You've now set up your virtual channel for dead cells with this panel!
The dead cells disappear from all channels, requiring no compensation or adjustment of voltages, panel splitting or transfer to a more complex instrument. Just imagine, now you can take an existing panel and add the viability dye DRAQ7! You can even make a 6 channel instrument accept 7 colours!
Depending on your flow cytometer's laser and detection channel choices you can easily set up a panel that works like this with blue, green, yellow, orange, or red lasers! All you need is two of these lasers and you are away!
Get a copy of our application note or the poster (Abstr. 144) from CYTO 2014 via the contact page
Another reason why DRAQ7 is THE viability dye of choice! #DRAQ7
