Impact of recent innovations in the use of mass cytometry in support of drug development.

Cytometry by time-of-flight (CyTOF) is a novel technology for the real-time analysis of single cells. CyTOF is a significant advance in fields including immunology, hematology, and oncology. It resolves multiple metal-conjugated probes per cell with minimal signal overlap, which maximizes the information obtained from each individual sample. CyTOF provides the ability to phenotypically and functionally profile cells from normal and diseased states. Single cell technologies enable researchers to measure the effects of a drug at the single cell level and better understand its mechanism of action. Here, we discuss novel instruments for the analysis of individual biological cells, the impact of recent innovations in support of drug development, and the important roles of CyTOF in drug profiling.