Preface

Flow cytometry is widely used in biological research. It also has many applications in the routine clinical laboratory. The applications continue to grow, due to an increasing number of fluorescent dyes becoming available and an expanding range of monoclonal antibodies, which are one of the major probes employed. The growth is also fostered by continuing improvements in the hardware and associated software.

We are pleased to offer Flow Cytometry - A Basic Introduction in three different versions. If you want a paper book to have on your shelf, you can order a copy here. The entire book is also available online at our sister site. The online book is maintained and edited only by Dr. Michael Ormerod, and the original preface is available here. In addition, we have provided this wiki version as an experiment for the flow cytometry community.

While there are many resources currently available for flow cytometry information, there is no place you can go to "get it all". There are many notable and comprehensive books and articles but they are often limited by space constraints and eventually become out of date. The internet provides an exciting opportunity to overcome these limitations and to create a vibrant and up-to-date website devoted solely to flow cytometry. We envision having reference material, protocols, articles, controversies and a wide range of information that conveys the state of the art in flow cytometry. 

One of the goals of the site is to provide accurate information for resource poor areas, who cannot always afford to subscribe to all the journals and keep up with the latest books. We hope to encourage participation from people in these areas, asking questions and posting information as to alternative techniques for performing flow, perhaps at lower cost.

We hope that the flow community will contribute some of their time and expertise to enrich the site so that it becomes a real resource for flow cytometry around the world. A few minutes of everyone's time can rapidly generate an exciting community site that benefits everyone. 

The site will initially be moderated by Drs. Michael Ormerod and David Novo and we will attempt to ensure accuracy. However, we hope that if you find errors, or things that could be explained better, that you feel free to correct them. Easy instructions on how to edit articles can be found here.

We welcome your contribution and please do not hesitate to get in touch if you have any questions.

Michael Ormerod - m.g.ormerod@btinternet.com

David Novo - david.novo@denovosoftware.com