text: * Rapid/high throughput: In multiplex analysis, a 100-plex assay can be analyzed in every 30 seconds. The recent reported high-throughput flow cytometry can sample a 96-well plate in 1 minute, and theoretically, the 100-plex assay with this system can be analyzed in less than 1 second, or potentially deliver 12 million samples per day.
  * High array density/multiplex: Compared to flat microarrays, SAT allows one to perform parallel measurements. A few microliters of microspheres could contain thousands of array elements and each array element is represented by hundreds of individual microspheres. Thus, the measurement by flow cytometry represents a replicate analysis of each array element.
  * Effective gathering of information: One of the benefits of using SAT is that it allows you to take one sample from a patient or research organism and simultaneously test for multiple gene variants. Thus, from a single sample you can determine which virus from a series of viruses a patient has, or which base pair mutation is present in the organism with a unique phenotype.
  * Cost-effective: Currently, commercially available suspension array kits costs $0.10-$0.25 per sequence tested.