A portable flow cytometer for the detection and identification of microorganisms

Flow cytometry can be used for the detection and identification of microorganism [1]. However traditional instrumentation is bulky and complicated to operate and align. These factors combine to make flow cytometry less than ideal for the field detection of biological agents. Recently a new flow cytometer, the Microcyte [2], has been developed. The Microcyte is a battery-operated, portable instrument that is simple to use and needs no operator alignment and thus is well suited to field use. The Microcyte uses a 635 nm laser diode as the light source and we present data for a number of microorganisms stained with a variety of fluorescent stains amenable to excitation at this wavelength.