Flow cytometer and particle detection method

A general-purpose flow cytometer capable for using a plurality of combinations of fluorescent-labeled antibodies, comprising:

• a flow cell to flow therein a measurement sample prepared from a sample and a labeling reagent, wherein the sample contains particles and the labeling reagent contains a combination of the fluorescent-labeled antibodies to label antigens on the particles;
• light sources configured to irradiate with light, the particles in the measurement sample flowing in the flow cell;
• light receiving elements including first and second light receiving elements, the first light receiving element receiving first fluorescence from the particles that are labeled with a first fluorescent-labeled antibody and the second light receiving element receiving second fluorescence from the particles that are labeled with a second fluorescent-labeled antibody;
• a storage configured to store a measurement condition associated with a measurement item corresponding to a predetermined combination of the fluorescent-labeled antibodies among the plurality of combinations of the fluorescent-labeled antibodies, wherein the measurement condition includes at least:
• (1) detection sensitivity of the light receiving elements;
• and
• (2) fluorescence correction defining (2a) the second fluorescence that is received by the first light receiving element and to be canceled for a first detection signal obtainable from the fluorescence received by the first light receiving element and (2b) the first fluorescence that is received by the second light receiving element and to be canceled for a second detection signal obtainable from the second fluorescence received by the second light receiving element, and
• a processor programmed to execute operations in response to receiving instruction of measurement of identified measurement item, the operations including:
• reading out, from the storage, the measurement condition associated with the identified measurement item;
• irradiating with the light, by the light sources, the measurement sample flowing in the flow cell;
• obtaining, the first detection signal and the second detection signal, with the detection sensitivity adjusted according to the measurement condition;
• correcting the first detection signal and the second detection signal with the fluorescence correction according to the measurement condition;
• and
• creating a scattergram based on the corrected first detection signal and the corrected second detection signal according to the measurement condition.