The microsphere populations in the QuantumPlex™five-bead kits are encoded with different intensities of Starfire Red™, and microspheres in our ten-bead kits are distinguished by both fluorescence intensity and size. Starfire Red™ is a fluorescent dye with unique characteristics that make it ideal for multiplexing applications. The dye"s broad excitation band allows it to be excited at a number of wavelengths, and it emits in the FL3 channel (685nm) with very little carry-over into FL1 or FL2, leaving othe detectors available for determination of positive binding events via common reporters such as FITC and PE.
QuantumPlex™ kits are available with three different surfaces to accommodate the coating strategy of choice: streptavidin or carboxyl functional groups. For Flow Cytometry Resources, visit the Bangs Flow Blog.
