FACILITIES & OTHER RESOURCES
Specific Fields Relevant to EMIC Users
Laboratory: The Emory Multiplexed Immunoassay Core (EMIC) provides the Emory University community and outside investigators from academia and industry with expertise in performance, analysis, and interpretation of multiplexed immunoassays to measure protein levels in biological matrices (plasma, serum, cerebrospinal fluid, milk, urine, stool, vaginal swabs, tissues, etc.) on the Meso Scale Discovery (MSD) platform. Since 2012, the EMIC has supported over 25 separate PIs from across campus including several in the Emory School of Medicine, Rollins School of Public Health, Woodruff School of Nursing, and Yerkes National Primate Research Center.
The EMIC houses two plate readers (SECTOR2400 and QuickPlex SQ120) to meet the needs of its users. These instruments require no customer calibration or maintenance, no complicated fluidics, and no between-read cleaning. The combination of rapid read times (90 seconds per plate) and the ability to perform multiple, simultaneous tests on a single sample increases productivity, conserves sample, and delivers results quickly. The MSD platform has a wide variety of commercially available assay kits and a full line of components and reagents for developing customized assays.
MSD utilizes electrochemiluminescence (via a cooled scientific-grade CCD camera and precision custom lens assembly) to detect binding events on patterned arrays with ELISA-quality sensitivity (0.05 pg/mL for some asays) but with a larger dynamic range (5 logs) using microliter volume samples, simple protocols, rapid and continuous reads, and fast, well-organized results via DISCOVERY WORKBENCH assay analysis software. The MSD multi-array protein technology enables multiplexing biomarker, cytokine, and protein signaling assays; testing for immunogenicity or toxicity, or developing unique assays. Users can purchase a large menu of V‑PLEX assay plates that are developed under rigorous design control and are fully validated according to fit-for-purpose principles and the FDA’s analytical validation guidelines. V-PLEX assay plates offer exceptional sensitivity, simple protocols, reproducible results, and guaranteed lot-to-lot consistency. V‑PLEX assays are available in both single-analyte and multiplex formats. Alternatively, users can design their own U-PLEX assay using the MSD Assay Designer protocols. Lastly, users can also choose from a menu of MSD assays that can be combined with priprietary antibody sets for ultimate flexibility.