Luminex

Description

The existing Luminex machine has a wide customer base since it is sited within the Biomolecular core facility (BMC) and is accessible to internal and external customers via an online booking system PPMS, we have a customer base of more than 1500 researchers. This will increase following our recent move into the Institute of Regeneration and Research (IRR), a larger bespoke building that accommodates 1000 staff and students. The new upgraded machine will operate to the same high standards, with dedicated support from the BMC offered to users on the operation of the machine and the design and running of assays. Previously, the BMC have investigated human and mouse serum and plasma, human cerebra-spinal fluid, mouse tissue samples etc. This illustrates the wide scope of protein detection capabilities of the system and its versatility especially with very small sample volumes that are unsuitable for protein detection using existing more labour-intensive methods for instance Western blotting which requires 20 micrograms of protein per lane and the associated detection problems with transferring to membranes, protein losses and antibody detection. Luminex technology is state-of-the-art biomarker discovery geared to detect a large number of biomarkers analytes within a small sample size. Analytes are biomarkers of different disease states, and this upgrade would allow users to run 96 and 384 well plates. The DRSE new system makes it possible to multiplex up to 500 analytes through the combination of differentially dyed fluorescent microsphere sets & an innovative instrument design with two detection channels. The RUO system is identical to the DRSE but has only one detection channel. Luminex technology allows the incubation of fluorescently marked beads conjugated to an antibody of choice with a sample using the same underlying principles as Enzyme Linked Immunoassay detection (ELISA). Luminex sample sizes are much reduced, when compared to ELISA, up to x 10 less, incubation times are also reduced and the beads bound to the target protein are detected and counted using the DRSE or RUO.