About CD44
The protein encoded by this gene is a cell-surface glycoprotein involved in cell-cell interactions, cell adhesion and migration. It is a receptor for hyaluronic acid (HA) and can also interact with other ligands, such as osteopontin, collagens, and matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs). This protein participates in a wide variety of cellular functions including lymphocyte activation, recirculation and homing, hematopoiesis, and tumor metastasis. Transcripts for this gene undergo complex alternative splicing that results in many functionally distinct isoforms, however, the full length nature of some of these variants has not been determined. Alternative splicing is the basis for the structural and functional diversity of this protein, and may be related to tumor metastasis. [provided by RefSeq, Jul 2008]

About Brilliant Ultraviolet 395
Brilliant™ UltraViolet 395 (BUV395) is a UV-emitting base polymer dye that can be excited by the 355 nm ultraViolet laser and collected using a 379/28 bandpass filter. BUV395 has an excitation peak at 348 nm and an emission peak at 395. BUV395's fairly unique excitation and emission spectrum causes relatively little spillover into other common detectors and conflicts with very few other commonly used fluorophores. An alternative to BUV395 for flow cytometry is StarBright UltraViolet 400. This dye is part of the Brilliant™ UltraViolet dye family, developed and sold by BD Biosciences. These dyes were optimized for use with multicolor flow cytometry. BUV395 forms the backbone of the family, as all other members are tandems that use it as the acceptor, thus making them excitable by the same 355 nm UV laser.