Characterization of the immune response provides critical knowledge of cell phenotype and function that will enable development of therapies with the goal of modulating the immune response.

Characterization of the immune response requires detailed phenotypic assessment of the adaptive compartment comprising of T cells, B cells and dendritic cells as well as of the innate defense including monocytes and granulocytes. While the cellular phenotype reflects the differentiation and activation status, functional assays provide insight into the inducible response that immune cells may elicit to orchestrate more systemic immune responses. Flow cytometry, with its ability to simultaneously measure multiple phenotypic and functional parameters at the single-cell level, provides system-level understanding of the immune response.