Multiplex Seminar Series 2018 (Multiplex: Bring Your Biomarker to Life)

Name: Multiplex Seminar Series 2018 (Multiplex: Bring Your Biomarker to Life)
Start: 2018-01-01
End: 2018-06-28
Location: Prima Nexus

In the first half of 2018, Prima Nexus organised talks on multiplex immunoassay with host departments at eight Malaysian universities, plus bench demonstration workshops at Universiti Malaya.

January 2018 · Seminar · Organised by Prima Nexus

Gloved hands hold a pipette over a kit protocol at a lab bench, beside tube racks, reagent vials and a well plate. — Working through a multiplex assay kit at the bench, with the protocol open beside the tube racks, January 2018.

A series across eight campuses

The series ran under the title "Multiplex: Bring Your Biomarker to Life". Each session was proposed to, and co-organised with, a host department, which provided the seminar room, projector and screen. Sessions were held at UKM Medical Centre, the Integrative Pharmacogenomics Institute (iPROMISE) at UiTM, Universiti Malaya, Universiti Putra Malaysia, IIUM Kuantan, International Medical University, Universiti Sains Malaysia in Kubang Kerian and UCSI University. The talks were open to researchers and postgraduate students working with methods such as PCR, ELISA, Western blot and flow cytometry.

What the sessions covered

The talks showed how bead-based multiplex assays measure many proteins at once in one small sample, and how to decide between multiplex and single-target methods such as ELISA or Western blot. They followed the work from kit set-up to reading and data analysis. At iPROMISE, slides also covered xTAG technology for gene expression, SNP typing and copy number analysis. Some sessions included a sharing session by researchers who already used the platform.

Demonstration workshops in April and June added time at the bench, in a wet lab at Universiti Malaya's High Impact Research Building. The programme ran from kit unboxing and a video presentation to an introduction to the MAGPIX reader and its xPONENT data software, followed by discussion and a sharing session. Seats were limited to 25 people per session.

The part Prima Nexus played

Prima Nexus organised the series under PrimePlex, its multiplex immunoassay platform. It proposed each session to the host department, provided the speakers and slides, ran registration and gave participants notes and folders. Prima Nexus offers multiplex immunoassay today, alongside ELISA, through its ELISA and Luminex service.

A speaker, seen from behind, stands beside a projected slide on using xTAG technology for nucleic acid assays. — A slide on xTAG technology for gene expression and SNP typing at the iPROMISE session, 22 February 2018.

A researcher in a blue lab gown and gloves pipettes into a tube in a red rack, with the kit protocol open on the bench. — Pipetting into tubes in a rack while following the kit protocol, January 2018.

A researcher in a blue lab gown reads a kit insert at the bench while a man in a white coat looks on behind her. — Reading the kit insert before starting a multiplex assay at the bench, January 2018.

More of our work with UKM, UiTM, UM, UPM, IIUM, IMU, USM, UCSI.

About Prima Nexus

Prima Nexus Sdn Bhd is a Malaysian research coordination group founded in 2014. It runs hands-on training for researchers across Malaysia and eight scientific platforms under one roof: proteomics (including ELISA and Luminex multiplex immunoassays), genomics, flow cytometry, stem cell research, animal research, clinical trials, bioinformatics, and regulatory and grant support. More about Prima Nexus.

Multiplex immunoassayData analysis