The Rush Biomarker Development Core offers a range of services intended to facilitate investigators interested in establishing cost-effective means to measure and/or monitor protein biomarkers as part of their research objectives. We also provide consultation for grant and industry-sponsored research applications to maximize your potential of being successfully funded.

The primary platform used by the Biomarker Development Core is the Luminex xMAP® Technology. This system is well suited for the simultaneous quantification of up to 500 analytes in a cost-effective and high-throughput manner, while requiring low microliter quantities of specimen.

We recently acquired an Agilent 6495 triple quadrupole mass spectrometer for quantitative proteomic and metabolic applications. We will be offering a new pallet of services in the near future with this new, high-resolution instrument. Please contact us to see how we can help you achieve your bioanalytical needs.

Facility personnel and services offered
The staff of the RBDC is very experienced with the Luminex immunobead platform and we offer a range of services to help you achieve your research objectives. Services range from providing access to the facilities and training necessary to allow your personnel to become adept at performing Luminex-based assays (unsupervised) to a research service agreement where facility staff will process and evaluate your specimens for your biomarkers of interest using our Tecan Evos 150 system, configured for automated assay performance. Further, we will consult with you to identify the best assays for your application and, if necessary, develop and validate custom Luminex assays if existing kits are unavailable or insufficient.

Services offered by the Core facility include:

‘Walk-up’ Luminex 200 usage for plate reads (fee-per-use)
User training for assay performance
‘Full service’ measurement of biomarkers by facility personnel
Consultation and troubleshooting
Custom assay development for any analyte (including analytical validation)
Data processing and statistical analysis
Please contact Dr. Borgia for cost estimates. Passages for protocols or experimental approach suitable for grant and industry-sponsored research applications available upon request.