8 Tips To Improve Compensation In Multicolor Flow Experiments

Multicolor flow cytometry is one of the most commonly used techniques for acquiring a large quantity of information on several cell subpopulations from a single sample. A critical component of any multicolor flow experiment, besides choosing the right flow cytometry antibodies, is compensation. Why do we need to perform compensation? When using multiple fluorochromes in an experiment, you run the risk that the fluorescence emission of one fluorochrome is detected in a detector designed to measure the signal from another fluorochrome. As you can imagine, this can seriously impact the accuracy and quality of your data. Compensation removes the signal of a specific fluorochrome from all neighboring channels where it is detected as well. Here, we share 8 tips to improve compensation in multicolor flow experiments.