Patent ID: 7537907

Claim:
A method of characterizing cells comprising the steps of: a) providing a suspension of cells in a liquid medium, b) contacting a group of first beads with said suspension, each of said first beads being coated with a binding substance such that each first bead is specifically adapted to bind to a preselected type of cell, c) incubating said group of first beads with said suspension for a period of time effective to permit said first beads to bind to said preselected type of cell to form bead-cell complexes, d) filtering said suspension to trap components on a filter, said components including bead-cell complexes, if any, which have formed, and e) transferring to a glass slide said trapped components and visually examining the trapped components in order to assess the relative proportions of bound and unbound cells as a basis for characterizing the cells in said suspension.