# A High Sensitivity Multiplexed Immunoassay for Aging-Related Inflammation Biomarker Quantification

> **NIH NIH R43** · AURAGENT BIOSCIENCE, LLC · 2020 · $299,578

## Abstract

Abstract
Age is the number one risk factor for the major chronic diseases in the developed world. Currently,
81% of adults in the United States are afflicted with one or more chronic diseases. As the average
age of the population of the United States continues to grow, we will be faced with a significant
disease burden if the percentage of adults with chronic disease remains the same. It is now well
established that inflammation, aging, and the development of age-related diseases are linked by
a complicated network of underlying biological mechanisms, but these mechanisms and the links
between them are not well understood. A major reason for this is the lack of a tool to measure the
all of the relevant biomarkers simultaneously over a large range of concentrations. Specifically,
there is major need in aging research and clinical diagnostics for a tool which can measure
multiple inflammation-related biomarkers quantitatively, reliably, and simultaneously over
a large range of concentrations.
There is a technology that would be ideal for this application if it were simply more sensitive. The
Luminex xMAP system is well-validated and allows measurement of up to 500 biomarkers
simultaneously, but these assays often fail to provide a complete characterization of a given
sample due to sensitivity limitations of the system. It is simply not possible to use the Luminex
technology to detect low abundance biomarkers. Our product, a nanoconstruct which we call a
“Plasmonic Fluor”, can be used to enhance Luminex assays to significantly improve the sensitivity
limitations of the current assays. The sensitivity limit of the current Luminex assays is determined,
in part, by the brightness of the reporter fluorophore used in detecting biomarkers. The currently
used fluorophore is R-phycoerythrin (PE), a fluorescent protein that is one of the brightest options
available. We have preliminary data suggesting our Plasmonic Fluors are at least 50X brighter
than PE, and can easily be substituted to significantly improve Luminex assays without requiring
changes to the assay workflow or readout hardware.
In this project, we aim to: 1) optimize our Plasmonic Fluor for enhancing Luminex assays; and 2)
demonstrate that Plasmonic Fluor-enhanced Luminex is capable of measuring biomarkers at
concentrations that are orders of magnitude lower than the current Luminex system. We believe
the Plasmonic Fluor will completely replace PE as the standard reporter fluorophore, and
Plasmonic Fluor-enhanced Luminex assays will become the de facto standard tool for elucidating
the mechanistic linkages between inflammation, aging, and disease.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9909594
- **Project number:** 1R43AG066380-01
- **Recipient organization:** AURAGENT BIOSCIENCE, LLC
- **Principal Investigator:** Scott L Crick
- **Activity code:** R43 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $299,578
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2020-01-01 → 2020-08-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9909594

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9909594, A High Sensitivity Multiplexed Immunoassay for Aging-Related Inflammation Biomarker Quantification (1R43AG066380-01). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-29 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9909594. Licensed CC0.

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