Multiplex assays employing optically encoded microspheres and flow cytometry offers many advantages over flat microarray technology, especially for applications involving a large number of samples or measurements (kinetics, dose response).
Raman scattering spectra have much narrower spectral features, presenting the possibility of measuring many more probes within a given region of spectral space.
Membrane vesicles are key vehicles for intracellular and intercellular transport. Extracellular vesicles are released from cells by several mechanisms including secretion from multivesicular bodies (exosomes) and shedding from the cell surface (ectosomes, aka microvesicles or microparticles).
Spectral flow cytometry uses dispersive optics, such as prisms or gratings, to disperse the collected light across a detector array, allowing the full spectra from each particle to be measured.