Flow Cytometry
Antibodies and Reagents Built for Flow Cytometry
Reliable flow cytometry starts with reliable reagents. Vector Laboratories offers a comprehensive portfolio—from sample preparation and blocking through antibody labeling and fluorescent detection—so you can build robust, reproducible panels without switching suppliers. Whether you’re designing a clinical assay, setting up a new cytometry core, or sourcing components for an instrument platform, we have the tools to support every step.
Solutions for Every Step
Sample Preparation
FIX&PERM® reagents for fixation and permeabilization, optimized to preserve antigen integrity while enabling access to intracellular targets. Compatible with cytokine staining, transcription factor detection, and multicolor panels.
Primary Antibodies
Recombinant and traditional antibodies with broad species and target coverage, validated specifically for flow cytometry.
Fluorophores and Labels
Need a fluorophore-conjugated antibody at scale or proprietary reagent engineered to your specifications? Our bioconjugation and antibody engineering teams work directly with IVD developers and instrument manufacturers.
Lectins for Flow Cytometry
The most comprehensive lectin catalog in the industry. Fluorescent lectin conjugates for cell surface glycan profiling, differentiation marker detection, and carbohydrate-based cell characterization by flow.
Bioconjugation and Custom Services
Bioconjugation, antibody engineering, and OEM reagent manufacturing. For IVD developers, instrument companies, and core facilities that need reagents built precisely to their assay or platform specifications.
Why Choose Vector Laboratories for Flow Cytometry?
Vector Laboratories provides the trusted, validated antibodies, lectins, immunodetection reagents, and expertise needed to achieve precision with every step of the flow cytometry workflow. Here’s why research teams and instrument manufacturers rely on Vector Laboratories:
- Specificity and lot-to-lot consistency: Eliminate antibody panel variability with 100% biological definition of recombinant antibodies and our rigorous quality systems.
- Breadth across the workflow: Sample prep, blocking, primary antibodies, fluorescent labels, lectins all from a single vendor.
- Custom and OEM capabilities: Need a fluorophore-conjugated antibody at scale or proprietary reagent engineered to your specifications? Our bioconjugation and antibody engineering teams work directly with IVD developers and instrument manufacturers.
- Technical support: With more than 50 years of immunodetection experience, our experienced technical staff can help with antibody panel design, fluorophore selection, and more.
- Unique reagents: Vector is the world’s leading supplier of lectins, a class of carbohydrate-binding proteins increasingly used in glycan profiling and cell surface characterization by flow. Gain greater biological dimension with Vector.
Flow Cytometry Workflow
Flow cytometry workflow — four expandable steps
The quality of your starting sample determines the ceiling for everything that follows. Inconsistent fixation leads to antigen loss, poor permeabilization blocks access to intracellular targets; inadequate live/dead discrimination inflates false positives. Getting this step right is non-negotiable for reproducible data.
Dead cells bind antibodies non-specifically, inflating signal and misrepresenting your population. Amine-reactive viability dyes penetrate compromised membranes and permanently label dead cells, enabling clean gating upstream of your panel staining.
FIX&PERM reagents are formulated to balance cell morphology preservation with epitope accessibility. Validated for intracellular cytokines (IFN-γ, IL-2, TNF-α), transcription factors (FoxP3, T-bet), and phosphoproteins. Compatible with surface staining done prior to fixation.
Nonspecific antibody binding is one of the leading causes of high background and false-positive events in flow cytometry. A few minutes of proper blocking before your antibody incubation pays off significantly in reducing signal-to-noise. Fc receptor blocking is especially critical for monocytes, macrophages, dendritic cells, and NK cells, which express high levels of Fc receptors and will bind IgG antibodies indiscriminately without intervention.
Recommended for any panel targeting myeloid or innate immune populations. Use species-matched Fc blocking reagent before adding primary antibodies.
Recombinant antibodies can be engineered with modified Fc regions to reduce background binding without blocking reagents — particularly useful in Fc-rich environments like whole blood or tissue digests.
Panel design can be a complicated process, but Vector Laboratories’ portfolio of antibodies, fluorophores across the spectrum, and other detection reagents provide researchers confidence with experimental reproducibility.
Broad target and species coverage, validated for flow. Recombinant antibodies offer defined sequences and consistent performance across lots. Secondary antibodies for indirect detection are available.
Match your fluorophores to your instrument’s laser/filter configuration with confidence. Our range spans the full visible and NIR spectrum to support multicolor panel design.
Fluorochrome-conjugated lectins are used for direct labeling of glycan epitopes on the cell surface.
Instrument performance and downstream analysis quality depend directly on reagent quality upstream. The right fluorophore and antibody pairing, appropriate controls, and well-characterized fluorophores make the difference between clean gates and interpretive guesswork. Vector provides trusted tools to ensure you have confidence in your data.
Featured Applications
Galectin and Cancer Biology
SNA and AAL lectins from Vector Laboratories were used in multiparameter flow cytometry to identify distinct lectin binding signatures in immune cell subsets.
Frontiers in Immunology, 2024 Szabó, E., Faragó, A., Bodor, G., Gémes, N., Puskás, L. G., Kovács, L., & Szebeni, G. J. (2024). Identification of immune subsets with distinct lectin binding signatures using multi-parameter flow cytometry: correlations with disease activity in systemic lupus erythematosus. Frontiers in Immunology, 15, 1380481. https://doi.org/10.3389/fimmu.2024.1380481
Blood Malignancy Research
Researchers used FIX&PERM to stain Ki-67 intracellularly and intranuclearly for flow cytometry to study proliferative activity disruption in certain rare blood cancers.
Cytometry Part B: Clinical Cytometry (Wiley), 2021 Mestrum SGC, de Wit NCJ, Drent RJM, Hopman AHN, Ramaekers FCS, Leers MPG. Proliferative activity is disturbed in myeloproliferative neoplasms (MPN), myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS), and MDS/MPN diseases. Differences between MDS and MDS/MPN. Cytometry. 2021; 100: 322–330. https://doi.org/10.1002/cyto.b.21946
Biotherapeutic Risk Assessment
The anti-MHCII antibody from LSBio was used to stain B cells for flow cytometry to develop a B-cell immunogenicity risk assay for antibody therapeutics.
Antibodies (MDPI), 2025 Budge, K. M., Blankenship, R., Brown-Augsburger, P., & Chlewicki, L. K. (2025). Immunogenicity Risk Assessment of Biotherapeutics Using an Ex Vivo B Cell Assay. Antibodies, 14(3), 62. https://doi.org/10.3390/antib14030062
Antibody Drug Conjugate Research
Anti-EGFR [C225 (Cetuximab)] from Absolute Antibody was used in flow cytometry to evaluate the bystander effect of novel EGFR-directed antibody drug conjugates (ADCs).
Biomedicine & Pharmacotherapy, 2023 Ho, E. C., Qiu, R., Miller, E., Bilotta, M. T., FitzGerald, D., & Antignani, A. (2023). Antibody drug conjugates, targeting cancer-expressed EGFR, exhibit potent and specific antitumor activity. Biomedicine & Pharmacotherapy, 157, 114047. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biopha.2022.114047
Technical and Educational Flow Cytometry Resources
For more information on how Vector’s portfolio of products supports flow cytometry, explore the following resources.
FIX&PERM Kits and Solutions
FIX&PERM is the highly-cited standard for cell fixation and permeabilization, enabling surface and intracellular staining of cells for flow cytometry while preserving scatter characteristics.
Dye Selector Tool
Vector Laboratories’ comprehensive fluorophore portfolio includes broad spectral coverage, unique performance characteristics, and cost-effective options for your flow cytometry panel.
Talk to a Flow Cytometry Expert
Need help selecting the right reagents for your flow cytometry applications? Want to place bulk orders? Have questions about our products? Interested in custom sizing options? Consult with our experts free of cost. Fill in your information and one of our experts will get in touch with you.
