Why should I use dead cell exclusion dye with my cell sorting experiment?

Dead cells that may be present in your sample can have a significant adverse effect on antibody staining. Dead cells have greater autofluorescence and increased nonspecific antibody binding, which can result in false positives and compromise the quality of your data. This can make it difficult to identify rare populations and weakly positive samples. Although dead cells can be gated out using forward and side scatter, this approach excludes only some dead cells and debris, not all. Using a dead cell exclusion dye resolves this problem, allowing you to better distinguish live and dead cells.