Protein Biomarker Discovery Service
Our Protein Biomarker Discovery service uses Olink® Explore HT and Explore 3072 to provide rapid quantification of clinically important, low abundant circulating proteins in proteomic and biomarker investigations.
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What is proteomics?
Proteomics is the study of the interactions, function and structures of proteins and their cellular activities in an organism or system (e.g. human proteome or liver proteome).
Identifying and understanding protein levels and their activities helps researchers understand physiology in healthy and disease states through protein biomarker discovery. For this reason, proteomics provides a better understanding of the structure and function of the organism than genomics since only 60% of RNA expression is properly aligned with protein levels.
This is why over 90% of diagnostic tests measure proteins. Therefore, researchers often gain better actionable, mechanistic insights into the biology underlying diseases from proteomics data, compared to gene expression data.
Furthermore, there is a pressing need for improving drug delivery to the right patient, at the right time, using the right dose; proteomics studies can provide comprehensive information on drug efficacy and safety, and patient stratification in clinical trials. Olink’s Proximity extension assay (PEA) technology can help researchers by giving them the tools to measure low and medium abundance proteins in plasma and serum.
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How Olink PEA technology works
Olink’s PEA technology allows researchers to measure up to 5,300 proteins with minimal biological sample input, while retaining unparalleled sensitivity and specificity. Olink’s panels are built for specific areas of disease and key biological processes. Olink’s comprehensive offering spans the entire biomarker development spectrum, from high-multiplex, high-throughput solutions for biomarker discovery to customized, lower multiplex panels for biomarker validation and beyond. As an Olink Service Provider, we can offer our clients assured support for protein biomarker discovery projects.
Protein Biomarker Dsicovery – Olink’s PEA workflow consists of three core-steps
1
Immune reaction
Two oligonucleotide-tagged antibodies bind close together on different parts of the target protein of interest. Once bound, the oligonucleotides hybridize forming a double strand of DNA. This eliminates the risk of false positives and ensures data accuracy.
2
Generation of barcodes and amplification
Once the DNA tag has been created, a Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) step is then carried out in order to generate multiple copies of the DNA tags present in the sample.
3
NGS readout
Finally, a next-generation sequencing step is employed to measure the abundance of target proteins in targeted proteomics studies measuring the proportion of the DNA tags present in the sample.
Applications of Olink PEA technology
- Drug development
- Identification of disease action mechanisms
- Identification of drug targets
- Prediction of drug responses and disease outcomes
- Determine optimal drug dose in clinical trials
- Protein Biomarker Discovery
- Identify surrogate markers for safety and efficacy.
- Disease diagnosis
- Stratification of patients in clinical trials
Olink’s extensive library of validated protein biomarker discovery targets cover all major biological pathways and processes including panels for:
- Oncology
- Inflammation
- Neurology
- Cardiology
- Blood secreted proteins
- Tissue-enriched proteins
- Routine clinical diagnostic biomarkers
- Toxicity
- Receptor Tyrosine Kinases
- Growth factors
- Metabolic disorders
Olink Explore HT
Olink Explore HT covers 5,300+ protein biomarkers, enabling researchers to perform high-throughput protein biomarker discovery with ease.
It accurately measures thousands of proteins, using only 2 µL of sample and 4X faster workflow compared to Explore 3027.
Scalability
Olink Explore HT is designed to perform at any scale, from hundreds of samples to population scale. This is achieved through improved throughput and multiplexing which empowers users to run thousands of samples weekly with just one instrumentation line. 172 samples and 20 internal controls in two sample plates can be used per run. A project involving 50,000 samples can be completed in just 24 weeks using just one instrumentation line.
Specificity
99.5% of assays showed negligible cross-reactivity thanks to the Olink’s PEA’s dual-recognition, DNA-couple technology.
Sample Flexibility
Each kit can process 2 plates: 172 samples + 20 control samples in total. Explore HT now comes with 5 plate controls to improve normalization performances and all 3 control samples are provided with each kit, so that you don’t have to create your own. These plate controls can either be placed in pre-defined positions or randomized throughout the plate (to better reflect the variation within a plate).
Improved Data Quality control
Data quality control is now highly automated to reduce the number of manual steps resulting in a simpler workflow and faster turnaround time for protein biomarker discovery.
Robust: Independent of study design and sample quality.
Actionable: Detects the most severe technical errors and helps users identify failure root causes.
Flexible Data delivery
Olink Explore HT NPX is a desktop-based software that enables faster and simplified data QC and processing. Olink NPX Data Analysis software converts raw NGS/qPCR data into a proprietary Normalized Protein Expression (NPX) format. This format allows researchers to select biomarkers with small variance in normal populations and gain further insights into their data.
Olink Explore CLI is a command line interface that facilitates efficient analysis of large-scale data through integration with LIMS. It can also generate both NPX and Counts per data point to drive innovation and increase transparency.
Olink Explore 3072
Olink Explore 3072 is a reagent kit for measuring the concentration of human protein biomarkers. It includes access to nearly 3000 protein assays.
For more focused projects, researchers can choose from one or several of the eight Explore 384-plex panels that make up the Explore 3072 library. The eight Explore 384-plex panels cover four disease areas (cardio metabolism, inflammation, neurology, and oncology). This offering is flexible and scalable, using only a few microliters of blood sample per 384-plex panel. Users can either simultaneously screen the entire library or focus on one or several of the Explore 384-plex panels.
With Olink Explore 3072, researchers can use 88 samples and 8 internal controls for up to two 384-panels per run.
Scalability
Olink Explore 3072 is designed to generate up to 1 million results per run from just 6 µL of sample. This is achieved through improved throughput and multiplexing which empowers users to run thousands of samples weekly with just one instrumentation line. The Explore 3072 is capable of running 88 samples and 8 internal controls for up to two 384-panels per run for protein biomarker discovery.
Specificity
Explore 3072 offers true biological insight with proven specificity by accurately measuring nearly 3000+ proteins simultaneously, delivering actionable biological insights faster. 99.7% of assays exhibited no cross-reactivity.
Sample Flexibility
Researchers can choose from one or several of the eight Explore 384-plex panels that make up the Explore 3072 library. The 8 Explore 384-plex panels cover four disease areas (cardiometabolic diseases, inflammation, neurology, and oncology). This offering is flexible and scalable, using approximately 1 µL of blood sample per 384-plex panel. This allows researchers to either simultaneously screen the entire library or focus on one or several of the Explore 384-plex panels.
Broad dynamic rage
Explore 3027 covers a broad dynamic range spanning over 10 logs, from femtograms to nanograms of protein requiring only 6 µL of sample.
Protein Biomarker Discovery Sample Requirements
| Specimen type | Input requirements | Technology used | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Explore HT | Plasma or Serum More specimen types can be validated upon request |
10 µL to set up workflow, a minimum of 50 µL per sample required | Olink Explore HT assay; Illumina NovaSeq 6000 sequencer |
| Explore 3072 | Plasma or Serum More specimen types can be validated upon request |
20 µL to set up workflow, a minimum of 50 µL per sample required | Olink Explore 3072 Assay; Illumina NovaSeq 6000 sequencer |
Sample Quality Control
| Control type | Requirement |
|---|---|
| Positive control | Includes pooled plasma with a known concentration of spiked-in recombinant target protein |
| Negative control | Buffer only |
| Plate control | Includes pooled plasma, used for data normalization |
Tell us about your protein biomarker discovery studies
Speak to one of our experts today to find out how we can accelerate your protein biomarker discovery with our Olink PEA service
