CYTO 2026 Scientific Tutorial: Business Intelligence for Flow Cytometry

Business Intelligence for Flow Cytometry

Presenters:
Antonio Cosma, PhD, Head of the National Cytometry Platform, Luxembourg Institute of Health

Abstract:
The vast amount of data produced by cytometry, along with its accompanying metadata, necessitates the deployment of advanced and innovative tools. These tools must be adapted to manage data sourced from a multitude of origins. They must also be capable of generating visualizations that are specifically tailored for effective data analysis and sharing.  Business Intelligence (BI) addresses all these needs, but it is usually used in the business sector and not in a scientific environment. A critical, not fully recognized aspect of BI is the capability to transfer analytical capabilities to domain experts (i.e., cytometrists) rather than relying on generalized analysts who lack specialized knowledge of the data and the scientific context.

In this tutorial, I will initially lay the basis of data management with a special focus on cytometry. I will show how to organize files for instrument acquisition and introduce the concept of enriched FCS. I will then introduce the concepts of aggregation, joining, filtering, and levels of detail. Once the basis is established, I will proceed to the data preparation and visualization steps. At the end of the tutorial, I will showcase some well-known examples of data sharing already widely used by the cytometry community: (1) the OMIP Cytometry A database, (2) CPHEN Comprehensive Phenotypic Reports, and (3) HCDM CDmap database.

Attendees will learn the principles of BI applied to flow cytometry, enabling them to prepare data and create simple visualizations. The learning curve for BI software is relatively flat, and this introduction will allow participants to get started quickly with their own data.

Keywords: Instrument Monitoring, Bioinformatics, SRL, Shared Resource Laboratories, Operations and Finance, Management

CMLE Credit: 1.5