From Pollen to Progeny: A Melody-First Guide to Practical Flow Cytometry

Plants, microbes, and more—QC, panel design, and real-world applications beyond blood

presented by Jeffery Haug 

Abstract

Most flow cytometry centers on blood and immune cells. At K-State, many projects begin elsewhere—plants, microbes, and complex tissues—where the first hurdle is generating clean nuclei or single-cell suspensions. This Melody-first seminar builds practical intuition: how the cytometer works; quick daily QC with 8-peak beads; using spectral viewers to pick fluorophores; minimizing compensation; and staging your first valuable sample. We then connect fundamentals to K-State use cases (plant genome size and ploidy, pollen viability, rhizobia), highlight a real-world vignette (sex-sorting bull sperm by DNA content), and briefly show how chromosome sorting informs rDNA biology. You’ll leave ready to run meaningful, well-controlled experiments beyond blood.