# Development of Novel Tau-SIMOA Assays

> **NIH NIH R21** · MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY · 2020 · $426,250

## Abstract

Project Summary
Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and AD-related dementias have a severe impact on those affected, the healthcare
system and the US economy, but currently no treatments exist and a critical need for effective biomarkers
persists. The development of ultrasensitive assays such as the single molecule array (SIMOA) platform has
facilitated a significant biomarker opportunity that may transform the current landscape and have a large
impact on our ability to manage these diseases. Measuring CSF tau is the primary staple for tau biomarkers,
but the SIMOA technology has facilitated a significant biomarker opportunity because the presence of very low
levels of tau, a microtubule-associated protein that composes the hallmark pathologies of tauopathies
(including AD and ADRDs), in plasma can be reliably measured. Continued pursuit of CSF biomarkers is
critical, but plasma provides an important opportunity to potentially obtain critical biomarker information through
routes that are relatively non-invasive, inexpensive and easy to collect serially in large volumes. Unfortunately,
only two SIMOA assays available for measuring plasma tau and neither distinguishes between mild cognitive
impairment (MCI) from nondemented control (ND) cases. Thus, there is a critical need for developing novel
tau-based assays. Our overall goal is to use our large resource of established, well-characterized monoclonal
tau antibodies and newly created and characterized tau monoclonal antibodies to develop a set of novel
SIMOA assays for assessing normal and pathological tau in plasma and CSF. We will pursue two independent
aims to achieve this goal. In specific aim 1, we will develop tau assays that detect total tau by targeting specific
epitopes throughout the protein. Our experience indicates that the forms of tau in biological fluids (such as
CSF) are detected with differential sensitivity depending on the antibody, and the best tau region to target in
plasma is not defined. Using a step-wise assay development framework, we will validate novel assays using a
combination of recombinant tau protein and human plasma and CSF reference samples. Rigorous criteria will
be required to further develop an assay, at which point we will compare its performance using plasma and CSF
samples from ND, MCI and AD cases. In specific aim 2, we will develop novel tau assays that detect specific
pathogenic forms of tau using antibodies that specifically detect conformational or aggregated states of tau, as
well as cleaved tau. The presence/abundance of these pathogenic forms of tau in the plasma and utility as
biomarkers remains unexplored. We will use the same workflow for assay development as in aim 1 and will
test validated assays for their performance with ND, MCI and AD samples. Overall, we propose to use a
rigorous set of studies to develop completely novel tau-SIMOA assays for the detection of total tau and
pathogenic tau conformations/truncations in human plasma and CSF across the spec...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9874859
- **Project number:** 1R21AG065712-01
- **Recipient organization:** MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** Nicholas M Kanaan
- **Activity code:** R21 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $426,250
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2020-01-01 → 2022-12-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9874859

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9874859, Development of Novel Tau-SIMOA Assays (1R21AG065712-01). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9874859. Licensed CC0.

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