Our new work on an optimized LIVE/DEAD assay coupled with flow cytometry for post-survival quantification is on biorxiv! Read it here. This is the MS thesis work of the first author, Hanxi Tang, with help from Jinye Liang. Both authors have successfully defended last year. We miss you here in the lab. Best wishes to your current research endeavors! Read more below.

In this study, Hanxi systematically characterized and optimized a two-component LIVE/DEAD stain, SYTO 9/PI, for quantifying post-stress survival in diverse yeasts. We observed many unexpected staining patterns when assayed by flow cytometry. Through careful and comprehensive experiments, Hanxi found a set of staining conditions, including the buffer choice, that minimize artifacts. We also discovered a “damaged cell” population in the staining result, making this assay a great complement to the commonly used Colony Forming Unit assay, which can be tedious and only classifies live / dead cells.