Designing a panel of antibodies is relatively straightforward for mass cytometry but there are a few considerations.
The detection of signal is optimal near the middle of the range of detection and this is where we would place antibodies to targets that are not highly expressed on cells or are up and down regulated upon stimulation.
A panel designing tool is available on the DVS Sciences page at www.dvssciences.com which allows you to construct a panel and submit it to Fluidigm for a quote.
Information on using the panel design tools can be found in this document Panel design presentation (Nina Lane, Fluidigm)