Validation—The Key to Translatable Cytometry in the 21st Century

With the primary goal of translating scientific advances and innovative technologies to applications that directly benefit patient care and treatment, Translational Science has justifiably generated considerable enthusiasm. Unfortunately, this enthusiasm has been somewhat tampered by the reality that the outcomes have not fully met the expectations of accelerating the transition of new discoveries from the bench to the bedside. This failure to deliver can be attributed, in part, to the lack of reproducible standards and procedures. Thus it stands to reason that suggestions for increasing the success rate of the Translation Science initiative include the implementation of more robust methods, standardization and validation. This chapter will explore opportunities in the translational science space and key concepts of analytical method validation as applied to cytometry.