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Poster

Proteome Profiling of Dried Blood Spots and Plasma Spots with NULISAseq™ Inflammation and CNS Disease Panels

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  • February 24, 2025
Topic/Product:
DBS, Neurology
Disease Area:
Sample Type:

Abstract

Purpose: Population-wide profiling of blood-based biomarkers is important for early detection of diseases and risk assessments to ease the increasing global healthcare burden. Reliable testing requires standardized sampling, collection and storage methods particularly in remote areas with low infrastructure. With the availability of metered collection devices, dried blood spots (DBS) and dried plasma spots (DPS) have emerged as an alternative source for cross sectional and longitudinal studies across large cohorts. Due to the limited amount of sample material in DBS and DPS, proteomic analysis demands highly sensitive and multiplexed platforms for comprehensive profiling to detect key biomarkers of inflammation, neurodegeneration and disease pathology.

Methods: The NULISA Inflammation Panel 250 and CNS Disease Panel 120 were deployed to compare proteomic profiles in DBS and DPS with matched whole blood and plasma from healthy and diseased individuals. Multiple parameters such as collection devices, extraction conditions and input volumes were tested to identify optimal protocols for detection of key biomarkers on the ARGO HT platform. Correlation analysis was performed to determine concordance with paired whole blood and plasma.

Results: Preliminary data reveal high detectability for key markers such as NFL, GFAP and pTaus in DBS and DPS. Overall detectability across the panels for DBS and DPS (>85%) is comparable with detectability of proteins Overall detectability across the panels for DBS and DPS (>85%) is comparable with detectability of proteins in whole blood and plasma. Additionally, Pearson correlation analyses show high concordance in relative quantification of most proteins between matched DBS/blood and DPS/plasma samples.

Conclusion: Our data demonstrate the potential of DBS/DPS as a promising alternative for blood-based profiling with ease of collection, storage and transportation for large scale studies. The low volume requirements coupled with the high throughput automation offered with ARGO make it an ideal platform for multiplexed proteomic analysis of this unique sample type with a wide range of applications in global screening and risk profiling studies.

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Authors & Affiliations

Niyati Jhaveri1, Karl Garcia1, Tsz Tam1, Li Wang1, Sean Kim1, Xiaolei Qiu1, Bingqing Zhang1, Yuling Luo1, Xiao-Jun Ma1

1Alamar Biosciences, Inc., Fremont, CA 94538

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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.

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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.