1. A method for characterizing a multifunctional particle comprising: (a) interrogating the multifunctional object particle with a flow cytometer, wherein the multifunctional particle comprises (i) comprising at least one coding region and (ii) at least one probe region, wherein the at least one coding region and the at least one probe region are each doped with a triggering entity that is detectable above a pre-determined triggering threshold, the at least one coding region and the at least one probe region being detectable by the flow cytometer as a sequence of discrete events above the pre-determined triggering threshold, and wherein at least one non-detectable region separates the at least one coding region and the at least one probe region; (b) detecting and recording, by the flow cytometer, the sequence of discrete events above the pre-determined triggering threshold, wherein each discrete event is designated by one or more numerical values indicative of a measured fluorescence and/or scatter signal; and (c) characterizing the sequence of discrete events based on the numerical values thereby characterizing the coding and probing regions of the multifunctional particle.