The production of high-quality recombinant proteins is essential for various industries. The Agilent ProteoAnalyzer system, an automated quality control instrument, provides precise measurements of diverse protein samples.

This application note from Agilent demonstrates how the instrument can be used throughout the protein expression and purification process to assess expression levels, monitor purification steps, and identify impurities.

Agilent SureSelect Cancer Custom panels offer tailored solutions for tumor genomic profiling using next-generation sequencing (NGS), allowing labs to customize panels to their specific needs and integrate new and emerging biomarkers seamlessly. Leveraging Agilent SureDesign software, users can access predefined gene lists sourced from cancer databases and leading researchers, ensuring comprehensive coverage across a spectrum of cancer types.

This scientific poster reprint from Agilent reports on an assessment of a customized panel for comprehensive genomic profiling, finding it to have high target coverage, uniformity, and reproducibility.

Comprehensive genomic profiling (CGP) leverages targeted, next-generation sequencing (NGS) to detect multiple types of genetic alterations in tumor samples through a single assay. This enables faster and more efficient investigations to identify key biomarkers of complex cancers. The implementation of CGP in routine laboratory settings, such as for large-scale projects or laboratories aiming to bring the assay in-house, requires a high-performing, end-to-end workflow that is easy to implement. The workflow should require minimal NGS expertise and offer rapid turnaround time.

This application note from Agilent demonstrates the robust detection of somatic alterations using the Agilent SureSelect Cancer CGP assay, with a workflow including automated library preparation and target enrichment on the Agilent Magnis NGS prep system, sequencing on the Element Biosciences AVITI platform, and data analysis by the SeqOne bioinformatics platform.

Evaluating biomarkers is essential for the molecular characterization of tumor samples. Homologous recombination deficiency (HRD) status can serve as a key biomarker for potentially predicting how responsive a tumor might be to poly adenosine diphosphate-ribose polymerase (PARP) inhibitors, which inhibit the repair mechanisms of cancer cells, leading to their death.

This application note from Agilent introduces a method to assess HRD status from solid tumor samples using the Agilent SureSelect Cancer CGP assay.

Evaluating the analytical performance of a cfDNA NGS method is critical, and using a high-quality reference material is essential for this process. Seraseq ctDNA Mutation Mix v4 has proven to be an efficient and comprehensive tool for assessing analytical performance in variant detection with the Avida DNA workflow due to its variety of variants and low background noise.

This application note from LGC Clinical Diagnostics shows that the Agilent Avida system tolerates a flexible range of input amounts without requiring protocol modifications, making it an ideal solution for liquid biopsy applications and other investigations where single sample use and maximal efficiency of molecule recovery are important.

Unlock the potential of a syndemic approach to screening for syphilis, HIV and HCV with valuable insights and practical strategies for effective testing at the point of care.

Key Sections:

• Quality of care in a syndemic testing workflow: Integrate syphilis, HIV and HCV testing and counselling in a cohesive and efficient workflow.
• Syphilis: Understand the alarming rise in congenital syphilis in America. Explore the accuracy of rapid point-of-care syphilis tests in resource-limited settings.
• HIV: Gain key insights for successful HIV selfing programs, including a customer success story with strategies for increasing direct-to-consumer distribution.
• HIV and HCV: Discover impactful case studies on increasing batch testing for substance-using communities and improving HIV and HCV screening in emergency departments.

This e-book from OraSure Technologies provides an overview of the rising STI syndemic as well as solutions, workflows, case studies, and insights to improve syphilis, HIV and HCV testing.

Lateral flow assays (LFAs) are widely used diagnostic tools due to their simplicity, cost-effectiveness, and rapid results. Traditionally, colloidal gold has been the most common label in these assays, valued for its ease of preparation and visible color changes. However, recent advancements in nanotechnology have introduced NanoAct cellulose nanobeads as a promising alternative, offering enhanced sensitivity and reduced antibody usage.

This white paper from Asahi Kasei discusses the technical and practical advantages of NanoAct cellulose nanobeads compared to colloidal gold in lateral flow assays, with a comprehensive performance evaluation highlighting enhanced sensitivity and detection limits and comparative benefits in antibody consumption.

Lateral flow assays (LFAs) are widely used diagnostic tools due to their simplicity, cost-effectiveness, and rapid results. Traditionally, colloidal gold has been the most common label in these assays, valued for its ease of preparation and visible color changes. However, recent advancements in nanotechnology have introduced NanoAct cellulose nanobeads as a promising alternative, offering enhanced sensitivity and reduced antibody usage.

This white paper from Asahi Kasei discusses the technical and practical advantages of NanoAct cellulose nanobeads compared to colloidal gold in lateral flow assays, with a comprehensive performance evaluation highlighting enhanced sensitivity and detection limits and comparative benefits in antibody consumption.

Nucleic acid amplification and detection are among the most valuable techniques used in biological research. Scientists in all areas of research — basic science, biotechnology, medicine, forensic science, diagnostics, and more — rely on these methods for a wide range of applications. For some applications, qualitative nucleic acid detection is sufficient. Other applications, however, demand a quantitative analysis. Choosing the best method for the application requires a broad knowledge of available technology.

This guide from Bio-Rad details the principles and applications of real-time PCR, offering protocols and data for gene expression analysis, allelic discrimination, and GMO detection, as well as guidance for designing and optimizing real-time PCR assays.

Despite larger and faster sequencing machines, whole-genome sequencing still requires a substantial effort over smaller panels for sequencing, data storage, data processing and interpretation. This additional effort has been expected to result in a large step up for solution rates. At the same time, large diagnostic institutions have continually optimized whole-exome sequencing to cover additional disease-causing variants. This white paper from CeGaT reports on the company’s reanalysis of data comparing the diagnostic yields of whole-genome sequencing and whole-exome sequencing.

Although some forms of precision medicine have existed for decades, next-generation sequencing (NGS) of tumors has yielded a plethora of mutations that inform clinical care. It is not uncommon for commercial NGS-based cancer gene panels to target more than 500 genes with several of those serving as biomarkers for therapeutic decisions. Beyond some of the common driver mutations, the acquisition of reference materials that contain even some of the mutations desired for assay optimization, validation, and monitoring is difficult.

This scientific poster from LGC SeraCare presents a new approach to FFPE reference materials, designed to ensure more accurate and reproducible results in NGS-based assays.

Fluoropyrimidine-based drugs (FP), such as 5-fluorouracil and capecitabine, are widely prescribed chemotherapy treatments for various cancers, with approximately two million patients treated globally each year. However, severe FP toxicity occurs in 10 to 30 percent of patients, often due to a deficiency in the dihydropyrimidine dehydrogenase (DPD) enzyme, which is encoded by the DPYD gene. DPYD genotyping identifies variants that cause DPD deficiency, helping to identify patients at risk of severe or fatal toxicity and allowing for preemptive treatment modifications. ​With the rising global cancer incidence, the availability of multiplexed pharmacogenomics reference material specific to DPYD will be crucial to enable labs to validate and QC their assays more effectively and accurately. ​

This scientific poster explores how Seraseq DPYD DNA Mutation Mix can enhance the accuracy and consistency of genetic testing associated with fluoropyrimidine-induced toxicity for better patient outcomes.

Liquid biopsy testing supports early disease diagnosis, therapy selection, and surveillance. Recent advances in next-generation sequencing (NGS) have enabled larger panel sizes, pan-cancer target sets, and increased sensitivities. FDA guidelines for liquid biopsy assay validation state that regions of the genome containing actionable variants must be tested with high confidence. As circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) panels become larger and more capable, inclusive and highly multiplexed analytical validation materials are needed to assess assay sensitivity and limit of detection of many variant types.

This poster from LGC SeraCare, presented at AMP 2024, highlights advancements in Seraseq ctDNA Mutation Mix v4 that help improve analytical validation, ensuring more accurate results.

Rapid testing for syphilis and the practice of same-visit ‘test and presumptively treat’ for patients in the United States have received recent federal- and state-level support.

Rapid treponemal tests are suitable for both initial screening and confirmatory testing in traditional and reverse syphilis algorithms. Clinics and labs may choose rapid treponemal screening first — i.e., the reverse algorithm — because primary infection can be detected at an earlier stage than with nontreponemal tests (RPR) and with fewer false positives.

In this white paper from OraSure Technologies, Jeffrey Klausner, professor of medicine and public health at the Keck School of Medicine at the University of Southern California, describes how rapid treponemal testing offers highly accurate results in just 10 minutes, and how people who test positive can get antibiotic treatment immediately.

Mark Lewis is a well-known GI oncologist at Intermountain Health in Salt Lake City, Utah. Gifted with a passionate communication style, he has over 93,000 followers on X. Next month, he will live-tweet his upcoming colonoscopy.  

In this episode, Lewis joins Theral Timpson in an ongoing series on minimal residual disease (MRD) testing, a revolutionary blood test that is helping detect residual cancer, causing a paradigm shift in patient management. He says MRD testing has transformed his own practice and describes how this “liquid biopsy” approach, previously common in hematology, is also advancing the detection of solid tumors.

“News flash,” he says in today’s show, “we were trained a certain way. My training ended 12 years ago, and I had fantastic training. I did my fellowship at the Mayo Clinic. But if I practiced now the way I was trained then, my patients would be so underserved, almost to the point of malpractice.”  

Lewis considers MRD testing a key part of his own standard of care and anticipates its broader adoption among GI oncologists. He also highlights the recent findings from the GALAXY study, which show improved survival rates for patients utilizing MRD testing, underscoring its potential to reshape GI oncology practices in the near future.

Featured Guest:

Mark Lewis, MD

Director of Gastrointestinal Oncology

Intermountain Healthcare