Biotium's New Cell Barcoding Kit Streamlines Flow Cytometry with 15-Sample, Single-Tube Multiplexing

• ViaPlex™ enables fluorescent barcoding of up to 15 cell populations in a single tube to reduce reagent use, save time, and increase throughput for flow cytometry workflows.

FREMONT, CA, March 19, 2026 / Biotech Newswire / -- Biotium, a leading provider of fluorescent reagents and kits for life science research, announces the release of the ViaPlex™ 2-Color Cell Barcoding Kit. Combining fluorescent staining with two reactive dyes, the ViaPlex™ kit allows researchers to label and combine up to 15 distinct cell populations for multiplex analysis in a single tube, reducing reagent consumption and sample running time without compromising data quality.

As demand for faster, more cost-effective drug discovery and immunology workflows continues to accelerate, cell barcoding is a potential tool for laboratories looking to maximize throughput without sacrificing data quality. After barcoding with the ViaPlex™ Cell Barcoding Kit, labeled cell populations can be combined into a single tube for antibody staining and later distinguished during flow cytometry analysis. Cell barcoding allows for high throughput screening and improves sample-to-sample consistency while reducing technical variations between samples. Biotium’s new kit contains two cell-permeant reactive fluorescent dyes, ViaPlex™ 405 Barcoding Dye for the 405 nm laser/Pacific Blue® filter, and ViaPlex™ 488 Barcoding Dye for the 488 nm laser/FITC filter, used at different concentrations to generate a 15-plex barcoding matrix, with an optional 16th sample possible with compensation.

Maximize Each Run by Analyzing Up to 15 Distinct Populations

ViaPlex™ 2-Color Cell Barcoding Kit (405 & 488). 15 separate Jurkat cell populations were stained with 15 barcode dye combinations, combined into a single tube, and analyzed by flow. A dot plot with ViaPlex™ 405 in the V450 channel on the x axis and ViaPlex™ 488 in the B525 channel on the y axis shows 15 distinct cell populations. Each population has been gated and labeled for downstream analysis.

For high resolution please click the image.

"The ViaPlex Cell Barcoding Kit is an exciting new product that should be very useful for researchers doing drug screening or other cellular screening by flow," says Dr. Alexis Madrid, Assistant Director of Biotium’s Bioscience department.

The barcode labeling is compatible with surface and intracellular antibody staining workflows, and barcoding can be performed either before or after cell treatment to accommodate a wide range of experimental designs. Unlike many other barcoding methods, ViaPlex™ labeling does not require fixation or permeabilization, enabling assays on live cells. The covalent dye labeling also remains stable if cells are later fixed and permeabilized for intracellular detection.

Key Advantages of the ViaPlex™ 2-Color Cell Barcoding Kit:

• Combine up to 15 cell samples in a single staining reaction
• Optional 16th barcode with stain-specific compensation
• Save time and reagents with fewer flow samples
• Improve sample to sample consistency
• Compatible with surface and intracellular staining
• Works with live cells, fixation optional after barcoding
• Covalent fluorescent dyes provide stable labeling and clean population separation
• For 405 nm (Pacific Blue®) and 488 nm (FITC) channels

The ViaPlex™ Cell Barcoding Kit expands Biotium’s portfolio of high-performance reagents for flow cytometry, providing researchers with a convenient and cost-effective solution for multiplex sample analysis and high-throughput experimental workflows.

For more information about the ViaPlex™ 2-Color Cell Barcoding Kit, please visit the product page. Biotium also offers a broad selection of antibodies and cellular stains for flow cytometry, including validated Biotium Choice Antibodies with CF® Dyes against common immune targets and Live-or-Dye™ Fixable Viability Stains for robust dead cell labeling in 18 colors.

PACIFIC BLUE is a registered trademark of Thermo Fisher Scientific. CF is a registered trademark of Biotium, Inc.

Link to the press release