AAIC 2026 – Ultrasensitive 5-plex Blood-Based Assay for Early Alzheimer’s Disease Detection Using NULISA™ Technology

Topic/Product:
CNS, Neurology
Disease Area:
Alzheimer's Disease
Sample Type:
Plasma

Background

The early and accurate detection of Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) remains a significant challenge, particularly with respect to blood-based biomarkers. While certain markers — such as brain-derived isoforms of Tau — have demonstrated promise for distinguishing AD from other dementias, there is a pressing need for accessible, cost-effective assays that combine multiple key markers with high sensitivity. To address this gap, we developed an ultrasensitive 5-plex AD panel using the novel NUcleic-acid Linked Immuno-Sandwich Assay (NULISA) technology1.

Our qPCR-based NULISA 5-plex AD assay targets five critical biomarkers: brain-derived pTau-217 (BD-pTau-217), NfL, GFAP, Ab42, and APOE4. The first four markers, which have been demonstrated to have strong associations with various phenotypes of AD, are detected quantitatively with ultra-high sensitivity. APOE4, an emerging new marker and the strongest generic risk factor for the late onset of AD, is assessed using a qualitative genotyping assay to distinguish carriers from non-carriers. Analytical performance was evaluated in plasma samples to assess detectability, spike-recovery, dilutional linearity, and parallelism. Assay correlations were established with both the NULISA single-plex assay and Neuro 220 Panel.

Authors:

Xiao-Jun Ma, Anna Lee, Prae Pongtornpipat, Thu Yoshimura, Pragya Mukherjee, Katie Cha, Lucas Zhen, Lucie Lee, Andrei Komarov, John Tenney, Henry Huang, Dwight Kuo, Jinwei Du, Kavita Tirumale, Zach Bent, Wei Feng, Yuling Luo 

Alamar Biosciences, Fremont, CA

 

Steve Williams, MD, PhD

CSO

Dr. Willams serves as the company’s Chief Scientific Officer. He was previously Chief Medical Officer at Standard Biotools and at SomaLogic where he pioneered the discipline for discovery and validation of predictive, diagnostic and prognostic models using machine-learning applied to large-plex proteomics. 20 such tests were used for drug characterization, safety and efficacy when incorporated in clinical drug trials at Pharma/Biotech and 17 different multivariate tests were validated and translated into regulated healthcare uses. Prior to SomaLogic, Dr. Williams was at Pfizer in the UK and the USA as a clinical triallist in Translational Medicine, and subsequently as VP, Global Clinical Technology. He sat on the National Advisory Council for the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering, the Executive Committee for the FNIH Biomarkers Consortium, and worked with FDA and PhRMA on developing evidentiary standards for biomarker qualification. Dr. William’s medical training was in London, at Charing Cross and Westminster Medical School, followed by a PhD in medicine/physiology at the same institution and training in Radiology at the University of Newcastle Upon Tyne. Steve is co-inventor on 26 proteomics patents and author/coauthor on multiple foundational proteomics manuscripts.

Justin McAnear

CFO

Mr. McAnear serves as the company’s Chief Financial Officer. He brings over 25 years of operational and financial leadership experience across various sectors and was instrumental in taking 10x Genomics public in 2019, serving as its CFO for over five years. Mr. McAnear served for over 3 years as Tesla’s VP of Worldwide Finance and Operations, supporting landmark initiatives such as the Model X and Model 3 launches and Solar City acquisition.  He also held various roles at Apple and J&J earlier in his career and served as a naval officer and aviator for over 9 years.