Proteomics Core

The mission of the Proteomics Core is to provide serum proteomic analysis at reduced cost to investigators studying systemic sclerosis.  The goal of the Proteomics Core is to define a core set of clinically useful biomarkers for research and patient care.

PI – John Varga, MD; Monique Hinchcliff, MD, MS

Contact
Mary Carns	312.503.1137	m-carns@northwestern.edu

Description: The Proteomics Core offers high quality multiplexed assay analyses to facilitate the discovery of important proteins related to scleroderma. These analyses may lead to insights into the pathogenesis, progression, and response to treatment of scleroderma.

Benefit to You: Investigators will have access to commercially available products at a 75% reduced cost. Additionally, associations with clinical data entered into the Clinical Core will be facilitated.

Procedure: Investigators will submit a small volume (500 μL) of frozen scleroderma sera to the Proteomics Core. Samples will be batched, barcoded, and sent to Rules Based Medicine, a biotechnology company specializing in proprietary protein-based products and services across the life sciences spectrum since 1999. Samples will be run on the DiscoveryMAP® v1.0, which includes over 100 analytes measuring markers of infectious disease, autoimmunity, cardiovascular risk, cancer, hormones, cytokines/chemokines, acute phase reactants, clotting proteins, growth factors, and tissue modeling factors (see below for complete list of analytes). To further reduce costs, an SSc Biomarker panel is being developed and validated in a discovery cohort. Once available, this panel will examine a core set of ~20 analytes showing statistical significance compared to controls. Bioinformatics analyses of proteomic data and corresponding data in the Clinical and Microarray Cores will also be available.

Ready to participate? Follow these guidelines to process and ship samples.

Click here to view the DiscoveryMAP 250+ Analytes