New Jersey medical technology company Becton Dickinson (BD) has introduced cloud-based software to streamline the flow cytometry workflow for scientists working in immunology, virology, oncology and infectious disease monitoring.

Called BD Research Cloud, it is designed to enable higher quality experiments with faster time to insight.

Flow cytometry is a tool used to analyse single cells based on their characteristics, letting scientists study them in more detail to understand health and disease better. But traditional flow cytometry workflows can be inefficient, time consuming and involve many incompatible systems.

BD Research Cloud, developed by the software engineers who created FlowJo software, bridges and integrates all the flow cytometry workflow steps, helping scientists more easily design reagent panels, connect instruments with data analysis software, store experimental data and procedures, and manage collaboration with colleagues.

“The modern flow cytometry lab can be busy with limited staff, which is why making experiments more organised, more efficient, along with making the data more easily accessible in the future, is of extreme value,” said David Archer, whose research interests are focused on the pathogenesis of sickle cell disease. “Cloud software that can support researchers from the panel design process to easily ordering those reagents to then defining the experiment to run on a flow cytometer, is a valuable tool and has the potential to accelerate time to discovery and publication.”

The software is built on a standard cloud infrastructure and is optimised for BD instruments and reagents. As a cloud-based open system, future releases are planned to provide users with more intuitive and powerful capabilities, alongside growing resources including panel design education sessions, e-books and dedicated applications support.

“BD is committed to delivering innovations to our customers that enhance the quality and efficiency of their flow cytometry research in new and meaningful ways,” said Steve Conly, newly appointed worldwide president of BD Biosciences. “BD Research Cloud is a powerful all-in-one platform that connects instruments, reagents and data analysis, bringing more complex experiments within reach, which can aid and propel potentially life-changing research from discovery to drug development. In combination with other BD innovations, including our new Horizon RealYellow and RealBlue reagents and newly unveiled FACSDiscover S8 cell sorter with CellView image technology, BD is unlocking new potential for flow cytometry to optimise and advance ground-breaking research.”

BD and its 75,000 employees help enhance the safety and efficiency of clinicians’ care delivery process, enable laboratory scientists to detect disease accurately and advance researchers’ capabilities to develop diagnostics and therapeutics. BD has a presence in virtually every country and partners with organisations around the world to address global health issues.