Episode #32 of The Conversational Flow explores several significant developments shaping the flow cytometry and biopharmaceutical industries, including advances in antibody drug conjugates (ADCs), questions surrounding circadian timing in cancer treatment, and major life sciences acquisitions. Our hosts, Brian and Adam, discuss how improvements in ADC linker technology and broader first-line applications are helping revive interest in this therapeutic platform, while also examining why a recently retracted study on treatment timing still highlights an important avenue for future research. The conversation then shifts to industry trends, including large-scale mergers and acquisitions and their implications for drug development and laboratory suppliers. The featured discussion focuses on a published survey of flow cytometry core facilities, examining instrument maintenance, staffing, uptime, and best practices.

“The Conversational Flow” an official podcast of KCAS Bio, and focuses on the more niche topic of Flow Cytometry and its role within the greater pharmaceutical, biopharmaceutical and bioanalytical industries. Every month, KCAS Bio will bring you another 60 minutes (or so) of friendly banter between our two finest Flow Cytometry experts as they chat over coffee and discuss what they’ve learned about the world of Flow Cytometry the past couple of weeks. “The Conversational Flow” is brought to you by KCAS Bio.

KCAS Bio is a progressive growing contract research organization of well over 250 talented and dedicated individuals with growing operations in Kansas City, Doylestown, PA, and Lyon, France, where we are committed to serving our clients and improving health worldwide. Our experienced scientists provide stand-alone bioanalytical services to the pharmaceutical, biopharmaceutical, animal health and medical device industries.

Episode 31 of The Conversational Flow Podcast dives deep into some of the most exciting developments currently shaping the future of cell therapy, flow cytometry, and AI-driven drug development. Our hosts, Brian and Adam, discuss major advances in allogeneic and in vivo CAR-T therapies, including how new manufacturing platforms and delivery methods could dramatically reduce treatment costs while expanding patient access. The conversation also explores how AI is accelerating pharmaceutical R&D, improving flow cytometry workflows, and helping scientists optimize everything from assay design to instrument standardization. Throughout the episode, the hosts balance enthusiasm for emerging technologies with practical discussions around quality control, human oversight, and real-world implementation challenges.

“The Conversational Flow” an official podcast of KCAS Bio, and focuses on the more niche topic of Flow Cytometry and its role within the greater pharmaceutical, biopharmaceutical and bioanalytical industries. Every month, KCAS Bio will bring you another 60 minutes (or so) of friendly banter between our two finest Flow Cytometry experts as they chat over coffee and discuss what they’ve learned about the world of Flow Cytometry the past couple of weeks. “The Conversational Flow” is brought to you by KCAS Bio.

KCAS Bio is a progressive growing contract research organization of well over 250 talented and dedicated individuals with growing operations in Kansas City, Doylestown, PA, and Lyon, France, where we are committed to serving our clients and improving health worldwide. Our experienced scientists provide stand-alone bioanalytical services to the pharmaceutical, biopharmaceutical, animal health and medical device industries.

The main discussion of this 30th episode of “The Conversational Flow” centers on automation in flow cytometry, focusing on a recent paper comparing three major sample preparation systems and their impact on efficiency, standardization, and error reduction. Our hosts, Adam and Brian, explore how automation can significantly reduce hands-on time and variability, while also noting that real-world reliability and trust in these systems remain critical challenges. They emphasize that while fully automated, end-to-end solutions are advancing, most labs (especially CROs) still require flexibility for customized workflows, which can limit the value of full automation. The episode closes with a lighter conversation about lab safety stories, underscoring how practices have evolved over time and inviting listeners to share their own experiences.

“The Conversational Flow” an official podcast of KCAS Bio, and focuses on the more niche topic of Flow Cytometry and its role within the greater pharmaceutical, biopharmaceutical and bioanalytical industries. Every month, KCAS Bio will bring you another 60 minutes (or so) of friendly banter between our two finest Flow Cytometry experts as they chat over coffee and discuss what they’ve learned about the world of Flow Cytometry the past couple of weeks. “The Conversational Flow” is brought to you by KCAS Bio.

KCAS Bio is a progressive growing contract research organization of well over 250 talented and dedicated individuals with growing operations in Kansas City, Doylestown, PA, and Lyon, France, where we are committed to serving our clients and improving health worldwide. Our experienced scientists provide stand-alone bioanalytical services to the pharmaceutical, biopharmaceutical, animal health and medical device industries.

In episode #29 of “The Conversational Flow” podcast, our hosts, Brian and Adam, are joined by guests from Accelerating Cancer Immunotherapy Research (ACIR), a nonprofit dedicated to sharing important advances in cancer immunotherapy with the scientific community and the public. Ute Burkhardt discusses her background in cancer vaccines and neoantigen-driven T-cell responses, while Ed Fritsch shares his long career in protein therapeutics and the personal experiences that led him into immunotherapy. Together, they explain how ACIR was founded to curate and summarize key scientific papers, helping researchers stay current without being overwhelmed by the volume of new literature. Overall, the segment highlights ACIR’s mission to accelerate progress against cancer by making critical scientific insights more accessible.

“The Conversational Flow” an official podcast of KCAS Bio, and focuses on the more niche topic of Flow Cytometry and its role within the greater pharmaceutical, biopharmaceutical and bioanalytical industries. Every month, KCAS Bio will bring you another 60 minutes (or so) of friendly banter between our two finest Flow Cytometry experts as they chat over coffee and discuss what they’ve learned about the world of Flow Cytometry the past couple of weeks. “The Conversational Flow” is brought to you by KCAS Bio.

KCAS Bio is a progressive growing contract research organization of well over 250 talented and dedicated individuals with growing operations in Kansas City, Doylestown, PA, and Lyon, France, where we are committed to serving our clients and improving health worldwide. Our experienced scientists provide stand-alone bioanalytical services to the pharmaceutical, biopharmaceutical, animal health and medical device industries.

In episode 28 of “The Conversational Flow”, our hosts, Adam and Brian, discuss why standardization is essential for credible flow cytometry data at scale. They walk through the biggest sources of variability - reagents and lots, sample handling and shipping time, anticoagulants and processing choices (whole blood vs. PBMCs, fresh vs. cryopreserved), instrument setup, and downstream analysis - and explain how each one can create “noise” that masquerades as biology. They note practical realities like weather delays and circadian effects, and why stability studies help define which markers remain trustworthy over time. The conversation also highlights where the field has evolved since 2012: automated gating is now effectively required as panels grow, and tools like dried panels and standardized nomenclature can reduce batch-to-batch variability and improve cross-study aggregation.

“The Conversational Flow” an official podcast of KCAS Bio, and focuses on the more niche topic of Flow Cytometry and its role within the greater pharmaceutical, biopharmaceutical and bioanalytical industries. Every month, KCAS Bio will bring you another 60 minutes (or so) of friendly banter between our two finest Flow Cytometry experts as they chat over coffee and discuss what they’ve learned about the world of Flow Cytometry the past couple of weeks. “The Conversational Flow” is brought to you by KCAS Bio.

KCAS Bio is a progressive growing contract research organization of well over 250 talented and dedicated individuals with growing operations in Kansas City, Doylestown, PA, and Lyon, France, where we are committed to serving our clients and improving health worldwide. Our experienced scientists provide stand-alone bioanalytical services to the pharmaceutical, biopharmaceutical, animal health and medical device industries.

This episode dives into how scientific understanding evolves over time, using immunology as a case study to highlight how often researchers underestimate what they don’t yet know. Adam and Brian reflect on historical quotes from medicine and science that confidently declared fields “complete,” only to be proven wrong by later discoveries. From there, they discuss how the way scientists name and categorize cells shapes how experiments are designed, interpreted, and compared across labs. Inconsistent terminology—especially around complex T-cell subsets—can quietly undermine reproducibility and collaboration, particularly in CRO and translational research settings. The conversation ultimately reinforces that precision in language isn’t just semantics, but a foundation for clearer thinking, better data, and long-term progress in biomedical research.

“The Conversational Flow” an official podcast of KCAS Bio, and focuses on the more niche topic of Flow Cytometry and its role within the greater pharmaceutical, biopharmaceutical and bioanalytical industries. Every month, KCAS Bio will bring you another 60 minutes (or so) of friendly banter between our two finest Flow Cytometry experts as they chat over coffee and discuss what they’ve learned about the world of Flow Cytometry the past couple of weeks. “The Conversational Flow” is brought to you by KCAS Bio.

KCAS Bio is a progressive growing contract research organization of well over 250 talented and dedicated individuals with growing operations in Kansas City, Doylestown, PA, and Lyon, France, where we are committed to serving our clients and improving health worldwide. Our experienced scientists provide stand-alone bioanalytical services to the pharmaceutical, biopharmaceutical, animal health and medical device industries.

In this most recent episode of “The Conversational Flow”, Adam and Brian dive into the flow-based Basophil Activation Test (BAT), explaining how it works, why it matters, and how it has evolved since basophils were first identified. They describe how BAT uses markers to assess basophil activation from a simple blood sample - offering a safer, more controlled alternative to in-vivo allergen challenges. The hosts highlight major obstacles to widespread adoption, including large protocol variations among labs across Europe and inconsistencies between commercially available kits, both of which make data hard to compare. They emphasize that BAT provides insights serum IgE tests alone cannot, helping clinicians and drug developers better predict hypersensitivity reactions, reduce risk, and pair diagnostic tools more intelligently. Throughout the discussion, Adam and Brian underscore the need for industry-wide standardization and thoughtful implementation to unlock the full value of BAT in clinical and drug-development environments.

“The Conversational Flow” an official podcast of KCAS Bio, and focuses on the more niche topic of Flow Cytometry and its role within the greater pharmaceutical, biopharmaceutical and bioanalytical industries. Every month, KCAS Bio will bring you another 60 minutes (or so) of friendly banter between our two finest Flow Cytometry experts as they chat over coffee and discuss what they’ve learned about the world of Flow Cytometry the past couple of weeks. “The Conversational Flow” is brought to you by KCAS Bio.

KCAS Bio is a progressive growing contract research organization of well over 250 talented and dedicated individuals with growing operations in Kansas City, Doylestown, PA, and Lyon, France, where we are committed to serving our clients and improving health worldwide. Our experienced scientists provide stand-alone bioanalytical services to the pharmaceutical, biopharmaceutical, animal health and medical device industries.

In episode 25 of "The Conversational Flow" podcast, guest David Leclerc, Director of the Cytometry and Antibody Technology (CAT) Facility at the University of Chicago, joins Dom and John to share his professional journey and insights into the evolving world of flow cytometry. Leclerc reflects on his early struggles during his master’s program in Montreal and how those challenges ultimately led him to a fulfilling career in core facility management and leadership. The discussion transitions to explore microfluidics as a potential future direction for the field, and whether these new technologies truly qualify as flow cytometry, emphasizing that innovations like acoustic focusing and new sorting platforms are improving both speed and data quality. The conversation broadens to compare academic and industrial (CRO) perspectives, highlighting differences in technology adoption, automation, and data reproducibility.

“The Conversational Flow” an official podcast of KCAS Bio, and focuses on the more niche topic of Flow Cytometry and its role within the greater pharmaceutical, biopharmaceutical and bioanalytical industries. Every month, KCAS Bio will bring you another 60 minutes (or so) of friendly banter between our two finest Flow Cytometry experts as they chat over coffee and discuss what they’ve learned about the world of Flow Cytometry the past couple of weeks. “The Conversational Flow” is brought to you by KCAS Bio.

KCAS Bio is a progressive growing contract research organization of well over 250 talented and dedicated individuals with growing operations in Kansas City, Doylestown, PA, and Lyon, France, where we are committed to serving our clients and improving health worldwide. Our experienced scientists provide stand-alone bioanalytical services to the pharmaceutical, biopharmaceutical, animal health and medical device industries.

In this episode, Adam and Brian explored recent advances in cell sorting technology, focusing on image-activated approaches. Unlike traditional flow cytometry, which relies on voltage signals, these systems capture and analyze cell images in real time to guide sorting decisions, enabling new insights such as subcellular localization and cell-to-cell signaling. The hosts emphasized trade-offs between purity, yield, and speed, as well as technical considerations like nozzle size, sample stability, and contamination risks. They also highlighted practical applications for downstream omics, clonal line generation, and cell therapy development, while noting both the challenges and excitement surrounding this high-speed, data-heavy innovation.

“The Conversational Flow” an official podcast of KCAS Bio, and focuses on the more niche topic of Flow Cytometry and its role within the greater pharmaceutical, biopharmaceutical and bioanalytical industries. Every month, KCAS Bio will bring you another 60 minutes (or so) of friendly banter between our two finest Flow Cytometry experts as they chat over coffee and discuss what they’ve learned about the world of Flow Cytometry the past couple of weeks. “The Conversational Flow” is brought to you by KCAS Bio.

KCAS Bio is a progressive growing contract research organization of well over 250 talented and dedicated individuals with growing operations in Kansas City, Doylestown, PA, and Lyon, France, where we are committed to serving our clients and improving health worldwide. Our experienced scientists provide stand-alone bioanalytical services to the pharmaceutical, biopharmaceutical, animal health and medical device industries.

In episode #23 of The Conversational Flow, Adam and Brian tackle the question: When can flow cytometry be applied to non-blood matrices, and what must be considered? Using sputum analysis as a case study, they outline the challenges of clinical trial sample collection, emphasizing the importance of pre-analytical factors like consistency, bias, logistics, and handling. They discuss how panel design, reagent selection, and defining the right cell populations are critical starting points, followed by gating strategies and quality control to ensure reliable data. The hosts stress that flow results in these nontraditional matrices are best suited for binary or threshold-based decisions, rather than precise quantitation, and compare the type of information generated to what can be gleaned from spatial data in solid tissues. Overall, the episode underscores that while non-blood matrices expand the possibilities for flow cytometry, success depends on rigorous standardization and thoughtful assay design.

“The Conversational Flow” an official podcast of KCAS Bio, and focuses on the more niche topic of Flow Cytometry and its role within the greater pharmaceutical, biopharmaceutical and bioanalytical industries. Every month, KCAS Bio will bring you another 60 minutes (or so) of friendly banter between our two finest Flow Cytometry experts as they chat over coffee and discuss what they’ve learned about the world of Flow Cytometry the past couple of weeks. “The Conversational Flow” is brought to you by KCAS Bio.

KCAS Bio is a progressive growing contract research organization of well over 250 talented and dedicated individuals with growing operations in Kansas City, Doylestown, PA, and Lyon, France, where we are committed to serving our clients and improving health worldwide. Our experienced scientists provide stand-alone bioanalytical services to the pharmaceutical, biopharmaceutical, animal health and medical device industries.