At xMAP® Connect Atlanta, Customers Highlighted the Benefits of Multiplexing Across Multiple Applications

From academic to commercial, using their own developed assays or LuminexPLORE Lab services, xMAP® end users showcased a wealth of applications for multiplex assays

By: Lauren Whitman

At our most recent xMAP® Connect event in Atlanta, GA., we had the great privilege of hearing from xMAP end users about how Luminex’s xMAP® Technology is making a difference in their research and development. We’d like to thank everyone who attended, and for those who couldn’t be there in person, we’ve summarized some of the event highlights.

The year in review

Kicking off the day was our own Sherry Dunbar, Senior Director of Global Scientific Affairs Programs, with a comprehensive review of five notable publications citing xMAP Technology in 2023, representing the breadth of the technology used across various applications. In the first three quarters of the year, there were more than 2,500 papers citing our technology — contributing to a total of more than 70,000 papers since xMAP Technology was first commercialized. Dr. Dunbar’s presentation focused on the following paper topics:

Optimizing cytokine analysis with xMAP Technology

From the University of Minnesota, Laura Hocum Stone spoke about work performed in the Preclinical Research Center to optimize the value of testing on animal models for preclinical trials. Her presentation focused on how her team is conducting cytokine analysis to generate accurate, reliable data from nonhuman primates. Cytokines are easily accessed in circulating fluids and can be studied in low sample volumes, improving conditions for animals in these important trials. They evaluated commercially available cytokine assays, selecting an xMAP-based option with an optimized protocol that yielded excellent results.

Evaluating SARS-CoV-2 and other infectious diseases

We also heard about several exciting efforts related to infectious diseases. Mukesh Kumar from Georgia State University spoke about using xMAP cytokine and chemokine assays to study neuroinflammation from infections of COVID-19, Zika, Powassan virus, and more. The approach works well with a variety of sample types and generates rapid results from low-volume samples. In another presentation, Ian Davis from the US Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases reported on the development of an assay for the rapid detection of mpox virus antigen. The two clade-specific xMAP-based assays were validated, and the team hopes to translate them to lateral-flow format in the future. In one more infectious disease presentation, Dylan George from the University of Nebraska Medical Center described a project designed to measure the humoral response to SARS-CoV-2. The resulting HumorX test is economical, reliable, and easy to use for community screening based on fingerstick blood samples.

xMAP Technology enables other biotechnology companies

We also enjoyed hearing from those representing various biotech companies, including several startups, that rely on xMAP Technology to develop and deliver better products. For example, Ira Herman at Precision Healing spoke about using xMAP assays to evaluate wounds that don’t heal easily. By testing samples of wound exudate with custom 15-plex and 27-plex assays developed with the LuminexPLORE Lab team, the company aims to improve and personalize healing treatments for challenging wounds.

Another startup, EmitBio, is developing a handheld medical device for at-home treatment of respiratory infections that uses specific light wavelengths to eliminate pathogens. Jacob Kocher described how the company used xMAP-based assays to study cytokine response, and then used that data to prioritize or rule out certain wavelengths (for instance, they found that 425 nm light works broadly against variants of SARS-CoV-2).

In another presentation, William Shea from ImmunoProfile (a Luminex partner) spoke about the development of an xMAP assay designed for rapid, cost-effective antibody status for 11 different diseases to help people understand their immunization status and history. The assay, which has performed well in validation studies, is designed to be run from fingerpick samples that can be collected at home by customers and mailed to the lab for analysis.

At Totus Medicines, xMAP Technology is being used to support a pharmacodynamics assay to validate the clinical performance of a molecule designed to inhibit PI3Ka, one of the most mutated oncogenes. Raymond Mak described working with the LuminexPLORE Lab to convert assays originally developed with western blot technology to a dual-reporter xMAP assay for the xMAP INTELLIFLEX DR-SE System that would measure the percentage of PI3Kα that bound to the candidate drug.

Finally, Jason Liggett from New Day Diagnostics (a Luminex partner formerly known as EDP Biotech) spoke about his company’s goal of increasing compliance with colon cancer screening, and how a blood-based test could accomplish that. The company developed ColoPlex™, an xMAP-based assay covering 16 serological protein biomarkers and validated it in a patient cohort of nearly 2,000 samples. The assay can be paired with standard stool-based immunochemical tests to provide more reliable early-stage detection of colon cancers.

At all our xMAP Connect events globally, we find ourselves inspired by the creativity with which scientists deploy our multiplexing technology, and the Atlanta meeting was no exception. We congratulate all our speakers on their terrific work!

COMING SOON!

The Atlanta presentations will be available for your on-demand viewing on our website in early 2024. Keep an eye on your inbox for details! In addition, our team is currently hard at work planning the next xMAP Connect meeting in 2024, so be sure to regularly check our website for updates!

In the meantime, stay in the loop with Luminex and the multiplexing community throughout the year with these helpful resources available at your fingertips:

xMAP® Connect: Detecting Early Risk of Stroke with a Multiplex Immunoassay

Scientists are using xMAP® Technology to develop a new assay for vascular brain injury

Dr. Jason Hinman

Attendees of our latest xMAP® Connect event learned about the impact of multiplex testing for patients with vascular brain injury from Jason Hinman: Associate Professor at the University of California, Los Angeles and President of Sage Cerebrovascular Diagnostics.

Dr. Hinman and his team developed a new assay for vascular brain injury using xMAP® Technology, making it possible to detect early risk of stroke with a multiplex immunoassay.

Detecting Early Risk of Stroke with a Multiplex Immunoassay

Hinman and his team aimed to develop a blood-based test able to detect key indicators of vascular brain injuries that increase the risk of stroke and dementia. Stroke, for instance, is a leading cause of disability and death around the world, Hinman noted. A more effective test to detect “silent” brain injuries would make it possible to improve treatment for those most in need.

A Multiplex Immunoassay for Vascular brain injury

At the beginning of this effort, Hinman was already acquainted with xMAP Technology, which he had previously used to measure cytokine activity associated with inflammatory signaling in the brain. His familiarity with xMAP Technology inspired him to continue utilizing the bead-based platform for his novel cerebrovascular test, which would aim to diagnose the presence of severe, silent brain injuries. The new assay, which was evaluated on patients at the Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center Emergency Room included six biomarkers and generated a composite score of 94% specificity using blood or serum samples.

“The Luminex xMAP Technology is really optimal for the challenge we are facing because it allows us to build a multiplex assay now that we can continue to augment in the future and it allows us to quickly scale,” Hinman explained.

Minimizing Cross-Reactivity in the Cerebrovascular Test

In his presentation, Hinman also spoke about the challenges of assay development and commercialization. His team worked with Luminex partner, Bio-Techne, to obtain robust antibodies for their desired targets. They also spent quite a bit of time minimizing cross-reactivity, ensuring strong performance across Luminex devices, and optimizing additional assay details.

Now, the assay will be tested in NIH-funded studies of up to 14,000 patients. Hinman’s team plans to launch it initially as a laboratory-developed test.

Watch the Presentation Now On-Demand

Watch the on-demand presentation now by visiting our xMAP Connect Virtual Conference Hub on Labroots. While you’re there, be sure to check out more presentations from the xMAP Connect event in La Jolla to learn more about the latest advancements in multiplexing technology.

We hope to see you at the next xMAP® Connect event in Atlanta, GA this November to learn about the latest advancements in multiplexing technology.

Watch Now >>

Read highlights from several more presentations from xMAP Connect in these related blogs:

xMAP® Connect: Multiplexing Offers Benefits for Cytokine Testing, SARS-CoV-2 Research, and Early-Stage Bladder Cancer Detection

Scientists from ARUP, The Ohio State University, UC Davis, and Luminex presented data from xMAP®-based assays in our user group meeting

[thumbnail]

We always look forward to xMAP Connect user group meetings—not only do they give scientists a chance to share their experiences with xMAP® Technology, but they offer deep dives into the amazing research enabled by our multiplexing platform. At the most recent event in La Jolla, CA, several scientists spoke about the work they’ve been doing.

The Clinical Utilizy of Cytokine Testing

Thomas Martins from the ARUP Institute for Experimental and Clinical Pathology spoke about the clinical utility of cytokine testing. These proteins are important for most immune responses and can be measured to detect problems such as cytokine storm syndrome, which often occurs in patients with severe COVID-19.

Thomas Martin's The COVID Cytokine Storm Graph

Martins and his team have been working with xMAP Technology since the late 1990s and have offered xMAP-based testing through their reference laboratory since the early 2000s. Their cytokine assay, an xMAP-based 13-plex panel test, saw demand soar from an average of about 2,000 to 3,000 tests per month to about 40,000 tests per month early in the COVID-19 pandemic. Most customers were primarily interested in IL-6 data, since the sickest patients experienced 1,000-fold increases in their IL-6 levels, and so Martins and his team quickly developed a single-analyte test to meet demand. “As a test developer, we really like the flexibility of [xMAP Technology],” he said, calling it “a robust, versatile, and flexible platform.”

Bead-based Neutralization Antibody Assay

The xMAP platform is also popular for assessing response to vaccines, which was the focus of two xMAP Connect presentations. In one, Resmi Ravindran from the University of California, Davis, spoke about a bead-based neutralization antibody assay for assessing the efficacy of COVID-19 vaccines. Alternative tests, such as a whole virus neutralization test, take several days to run and require BSL-3 facilities.

Neutralizing Antibody Tests

The high-throughput xMAP-based test designed by Bio-Rad, however, takes just a few hours and can be run in any laboratory to detect SARS-CoV-2 neutralizing antibodies. In studies of human samples, Ravindran’s team was able to use the test to evaluate the efficacy of the Pfizer and Moderna mRNA vaccines. They have also performed studies in a number of animal models, finding high correlation between neutralizing and binding antibodies in some cases.

B-cell Epitope Peptide-based Cancer Vaccine

In another vaccine presentation, Linlin Guo and Jay Overholser from The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center spoke about their efforts to develop and evaluate B cell epitope peptide-based cancer vaccines. The treatment is designed to boost B cell and T cell activity for a more effective immune response to cancer. They’ve worked on both a PD-1 vaccine and a PD-L1 vaccine, finding that combinations of treatments can be more effective than any treatment alone.

Mechanism of B cell epitope peptide vaccine

The vaccines are studied by immunizing mice and then challenging them with tumor cells. These preclinical studies have shown that vaccinated mice have significantly less tumor growth compared to controls, Guo said. The team is using an xMAP-based panel to study cytokine release and has been working with the xMAP INTELLIFLEX® System’s dual reporter capability to evaluate PD-1 and PD-L1 antibodies.

A Multiplex Test For Early-stage Bladder Cancer

We were also excited to hear from Charles Rosser, a research scientist and professor of biomedical sciences at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, about his work using xMAP Technology to support the development of Oncuria®, a multiplex test for early-stage bladder cancer. The assay is slated to launch soon as a laboratory-developed test, and Rosser said he expects it to lead to a “major shift” in the care of patients with bladder cancer.

single nucleus-RNA sequencing of bladder tumors

A small clinical utility study for this new approach indicated that doctors would reduce the number of alternative tests ordered for these patients should they receive clear results from Rosser’s test.

Technical Considerations For Bead Coupling

xMAP Connect attendees also gained valuable time with our team’s technical experts. Stephen Angeloni, a Senior Field Application Scientist at Luminex, offered a deep dive into the technical considerations for bead coupling. Examples of molecules suitable for coupling include purified proteins or antigens, peptides, small molecules, and carbohydrates.

Coupling Chemistries

Angeloni recommended that users consult the xMAP® Cookbook for easy-to-follow protocols, lists of the reagents, and equipment needed. He also reviewed the coupling chemistry workflow, which involves repeated washing and incubation cycles, as well as the option to use microgram or picomolar coupling to generate the best signal. Finally, he walked through four Excel worksheet-based calculators to help xMAP users perform the coupling process correctly.

All presentations from xMAP Connect in La Jolla are now available for on-demand viewing in our xMAP Connect Virtual event platform on Labroots. Our next in-person xMAP Connect meeting will be taking place in Atlanta, GA on November 2, 2023. Stay tuned for more information. We hope to see you there!

Watch The Presentations >>

6 Reasons You Should Attend xMAP® Connect

Luminex’s xMAP® multiplexing technology

Whether you’re a power user of Luminex’s xMAP® multiplexing technology or you’ve just heard about it for the first time, there’s a lot you can gain from attending one of our user group meetings. These xMAP Connect events are designed to be convenient, helpful, and educational. Still not convinced? Here are six reasons we think xMAP Connect meetings are worth your time.

[thumbnail]

1. They’re Local

Unlike typical biotech user group meetings hosted in the usual East Coast and West Coast hotspots, xMAP Connect is designed to bring great material right to users and prospective users wherever they are in multiple meetings throughout the year. We have upcoming events planned for La Jolla, CA, and Atlanta, GA, plus future meetings likely to be held in Chicago, Boston, and other locations as well.

2. No Commitment

We get it — you just don’t have the time or budget for a marathon, multi-day event. That’s why xMAP Connect takes place on a single day, making it easier for you to take time away from the lab or office to join us. We also share the agenda ahead of time, so if you can only pop in for the morning or afternoon, that’s OK. There’s still plenty to do in a short time!

xMAP Connect San Diego

3. Stellar Content

Speakers at xMAP Connect events are, in a word, fantastic. We are honored at every meeting to have highly respected leaders in their fields take time to join us and present results from their work with xMAP Technology. These talks are guaranteed to inspire new ideas, introduce novel applications, and inform users about different instruments and approaches.

4. Partner Presence

Luminex has commercialized much of its xMAP Technology through our dedicated partners — licensed companies that develop new assays based on our multiplexing tools. Many of these partners display their products at xMAP Connect events, giving attendees a great view of what’s available off the shelf.

xMAP Connect Speaker

5. Networking

xMAP Connect is for everyone, and we mean everyone! These one-day events bring together PIs and grad students, scientists and clinicians, technology developers and assay designers. When you’re not actively attending a presentation, you can take the opportunity to meet new people, exchange best practices, and collect new ideas to take back to the lab about how xMAP Technology can empower your research.

6. They’re free

There’s no cost for conference attendance, and we offer breakfast, lunch, and a cocktail hour as well—all completely free of charge.

We hope to see you at an upcoming xMAP Connect meeting!

Check out our next scheduled event for more information on how you can attend.

Register Today For FREE!

Related Content:

xMAP® Connect: Advances in Aging and Dry Eye

Our recent user group meeting featured presentations of xMAP-enabled studies where multiplexing was essential

We were honored to host a number of terrific scientists at our recent xMAP® Connect user group meeting. In two of the talks, researchers reported on how they deployed Luminex’s xMAP® Technology for the analysis of tear fluid in patients with dry eye condition and for studies of anti-aging therapies.

Scleral Lens Wear: Managing Inflammation in the Fluid Reservoir

Maria Walker, an assistant professor at the University of Houston who pairs research with clinical time at the university’s eye clinic, spoke about a pilot study she performed to better understand the inflammatory response in patients suffering from dry eye, a condition affecting more than 50 million people in the US alone. For the study, she needed to analyze human tears — a remarkably complex fluid containing thousands of proteins, lipids, and metabolites.

xMAP<sup>®</sup> Connect 2022: Dry Eye

To characterize these samples, Walker turned to xMAP Technology. She ran a cytokine panel to look for interleukins and matrix metalloproteinases. This first pilot study was designed to establish a robust protocol for collecting and analyzing tear fluid. In future studies, Walker hopes that her findings will eventually allow for a better understanding of the condition and offer the opportunity to evaluate new therapeutics.

Aging and Senescence: The Eternal Flame of Inflammation

xMAP<sup>®</sup> Connect 2022: Advances in Aging

In a separate presentation, Jair Espindola-Netto from the Mayo Clinic offered a look into his work on aging and senescence. Senescence, a cell fate associated with arrested growth but not apoptosis, is one of the mechanisms of aging. When senescent cells are injected into the knees of a healthy mouse, for instance, they induce the same kind of joint destruction associated with osteoarthritis, he said.

Espindola-Netto is using xMAP Technology to characterize proteins linked to senescence in translational research studies of anti-aging senolytic drugs, which aim to prevent senescence by making these cells less resistant to apoptosis.

He analyzed mRNA and cytokine markers in studies of a senolytic cocktail including dasatinib and quercetin, finding a significant reduction in senescent cells 14 days after treatment. He also identified a group of cytokines that appear to be correlated with the phenotype. Espindola-Netto noted that his goal is not to help people live longer, but rather to help them stay healthier as they age.

See Dr. Walker and Dr. Espindola-Netto’s full presentation here:

[arve url=”https://www.youtube.com/embed/WJMeZVXxIxQ?t=2082″ hide_title=”yes” /]

Check out these resources to see if xMAP Technology could be advantageous for your research.

Discover the Advantages

xMAP® Connect: Predicting Treatment Response in Breast Cancer

MD Anderson pathologist shares results from xMAP®-powered breast cancer studies at user group meeting

[thumbnail]

The recent xMAP® Connect user group meeting featured an impressive roster of speakers, and included among them was Fraser Symmans, pathologist and director at MD Anderson Cancer Center. His presentation offered an update on those projects designed to predict an individual’s breast cancer response to endocrine therapy—which is one of the most important and widely used long-term treatments available for those with HR+/HER2- breast cancer. Moreover, those clinical assays that interrogate therapeutic response have been supported by Luminex’s xMAP Technology.

xMAP Technology helps build platform for breast cancer studies

Symmans explained that his work began years ago, when his earliest assays were designed from microarrays that enabled the analysis of key transcripts. But as his team progressed, they aimed to create a customized assay that might eventually become a clinical test. They began by establishing a set of genes whose expression revealed information about the activity of an individual’s endocrine pathway and their correlation with cancer treatment. Over time, the scientists gathered data on endocrine therapy sensitivity, response to chemotherapy, burden of disease at diagnosis, and more.

Ultimately, Symmans’s team selected a group of genes that collectively serve as a prognostic index for endocrine therapy response. However, they wanted to move forward with an assay platform that could be used with Formalin-Fixed Paraffin-Embedded (FFPE) samples. Symmans and his colleagues compared an xMAP assay to the original microarrays, as well as to another gene expression technology and found excellent concordance across the platforms.

xMAP Technology serves as “a very stable platform”

“We made the choice for xMAP based on some preferences and some workflow logistics that we thought would be advantageous,” he said. It offers “outstanding performance” and now serves as “a very stable platform for us,” he added. Subsequent inter- and intra-lab studies demonstrated the platform’s strong reproducibility and “excellent concordance of this assay in different labs,” Symmans reported — noting that this was the case even for users who had no previous familiarity with the technology.

Symmans and his colleagues have used the xMAP-based assay to study various types of breast cancer samples as they expand their validation of the prognostic index. They have now assessed clinical utility in several different projects, predicting not only response to endocrine therapy, but also long-term survival. Their assay is now established in a CLIA laboratory, ready for use in prospective clinical trials and/or in commercial development projects.

Learn more about how xMAP Technology can be used for a wide variety of applications.

Learn More Now!

Related Content:

xMAP® Connect: Measuring Immune Response for Vaccine Development

Texas Children’s Hospital scientist speaks at our recent user group meeting about low-cost COVID‑19 vaccine

At the recent xMAP® Connect user group meeting, we were honored to host Jeroen Pollet, assistant professor at Baylor College of Medicine, who also serves as a director on the Vaccine Development Team at Texas Children’s Hospital. Pollet presented his insights regarding the application of xMAP Technology towards a multiplex cytokine release assay that measures immune response to vaccine candidates for tropical and other diseases.

[thumbnail]

Typically, Pollet and his team focus on surveillance, diagnostics, and vaccine development for neglected tropical diseases. “What’s truly unique about us is our science,” he said. The Vaccine Development Center is part of a special program that combines basic research with product development, as it spans preclinical and clinical testing—even seeing it through the regulatory review process. “It’s an integrated product development strategy,” Pollet added.

Shifting gears for COVID‑19

Upon the emergence of COVID-19, Pollet’s team turned its attention to this new public health threat and developed Corbevax®, which is an effective, low-cost vaccine that could supply low-income countries where other COVID-19 vaccines are cost-prohibitive. In addition to having received emergency use authorization and being commercially available, Corbevax has been licensed for production in India, where 300 million doses are being manufactured. There, it has already been used to vaccinate more than 10 million children aged 12 to 14. Moreover, 100 million vaccine doses have been approved and designated for Botswana, where manufacturers will begin ramping up local production.

Multiplexing technology offers ease of use, standardization, and the ability to query multiple analytes

This exciting development was made possible through the dedicated and tireless work of Pollet and his colleagues, who relied on Luminex’s xMAP Technology to make it happen. They used Luminex’s bead-based multiplexing platform in a pipeline with orthogonal technologies to test for an immune response following immunization. They chose the multiplex cytokine release assay for its ease of use, standardization, and its ability to query multiple analytes, Pollet informed. In preclinical studies involving mice, the assay allowed them to quantify the cytokines secreted after two doses of the vaccine. Subsequent studies were also performed in primate models. “It’s really important that we get data as fast as possible,” Pollet said. Because xMAP allows testing for multiple analytes at once, time to results is accelerated by eliminating the need for tedious serial testing.

xMAP Technology supports vaccine development

Pollet’s team works with both recombinant protein- and mRNA-based vaccines. In separate studies involving Chagas disease, Pollet relayed that a heterologous approach using both protein and mRNA looked very promising towards boosting immune response based on cytokine assay results. “We believe that heterologous vaccination is really the way forward,” he said.

Learn more about how xMAP Technology can be used to support vaccine development.

Get Started Today