I've recently transitioned to a new institution, and I have limited experience with flow cytometry. In my previous work with microscopy and western blots, blocking with proteins was a standard practice to prevent unspecific antibody binding. Here, however, flow cytometry is conducted in PBS without any added protein throughout the protocol. I'm perplexed because I've always believed that the addition of protein is essential. Could you please help me understand if using just PBS is sufficient to obtain specific results? Thanks!