Leeds Translational and Biomarker Facility (LTBF)
Leeds Translational Biomarker Facility, formerly known as the Immunogenomics Facility, was founded by the Molecular and Personalised Medicine Group. Our services are available to all researchers from the University of Leeds, and selected services are available to external users from academia and industry.
Our services include:
- Olink® Proteomics
- Specialist cell separations from blood samples
- Nucleic acid extractions
- Translational wet lab experiments
We can help with a diverse range of requests. If you would like further details please contact us.
Olink® Proteomics
UK’s First Certified Core Facility to Run Olink® Assays
As a trusted Olink Certified Service Provider (CSP), we use Polymerase Extension Assay (PEA) technology for targeted protein biomarker research, providing new insights into disease, improving disease detection and helping to understand disease biology. Having been early adopters of the Olink® Proteomics platform in-house for our own biomarker research, we have gained extensive experience which we now offer to external academic groups and industry.
Why Olink?
- Rapid, high-throughput protein analysis
- Exceptional sensitivity and specificity
- Minimal sample consumption (1ul to 4ul)
- Dynamic range from fg to mg/ml (10 logs)
- Strict assay technical validation and quality control procedures
Olink® PEA Technology
Olink utilises proprietary Proximity Extension Assay (PEA) technology, which combines immunoaffinity with a qPCR or NGS readout to measure proteins with exceptional throughput, sensitivity, and specificity.
Contact us for advice on project design, costs/estimates for grant applications or quotations for work to be carried out in the short-term.
What we offer
| Reveal | Target 96 | Target 48 | Flex | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Overview | Developed to allow for broad coverage and deep immune profiling based on the UK Biobank data. | Pre-validated panels, each focussing on a specific disease area or key biological process | Pre-validated and carefully selected biomarkers for comprehensive view of cytokine signalling and inflammatory process | Semi-customizable panels allowing mix and match from an extensive library |
| Panels | Single curated panel | 14 human panels and 1 mouse panel | 2 human panels and 1 mouse panel | Tailor - made panels |
| Number of samples per plate | 84 | 88 | 40 | 40 |
| Number of proteins per panel | 1034 | 92 | 43-45 (depending on panel choice) | 5-30 |
| Quantification type | Relative (NPX) | Relative (NPX) | Absolute (pg/ml) or Relative NPX | Absolute (pg/ml) or Relative NPX |
Click on the panels listed below to see the protein assay list and validation data:
|
Panel assay list |
Validation data |
|---|---|
| Olink Reveal |
Reveal |
| Olink Target 48 Cytokine Panels |
Human Cytokine |
|
Olink Target 96 Cardiovascular Panels |
Cardiometabolic |
| Olink Target 96 Immuno-Oncology Panels | Immuno-Oncology Immune Response |
| Olink Target 96 Neurology Panels | Neuro Exploratory Neurology |
| Olink Target 96 Oncology Panels | Oncology II Oncology III |
| Olink Target 96 Inflammation Panel | Inflammation |
| Olink Target 96 Biological Processes Panels |
Organ Damage |
Olink® Focus
- Fully customisable panels to suit your project needs
- Fully customizable panel for specific and exclusive studies
- Expert help provided to design and thoroughly validate a bespoke panel to combine up to 21 biomarkers of your choice
- Minimum number of samples required is 1000
- Each kit accommodates 144 or 166 samples depending on whether data output is in relative NPX units of absolute quantification (pg/ml)
- Minimum sample volume of 1ul required
Find out more about Olink’s custom Focus panel offering here. Contact us for further details.
Specialist Blood Cell Separations
We process fresh biological samples through our specialist separation protocols for on-site storage and downstream applications, strictly controlled and tracked by a dedicated LIMS. By prior arrangement we can accept fresh biological samples for bespoke same day processing according to downstream analysis requirements.
Specialist processing:
- PBMC
- Serum
- Plasma
- Platelets
- DNA/RNAC
We use a fully automated cell isolation system (StemCell RoboSep), providing reproducible magnetic separations for downstream quantitative and functional analyses
- B cells
- Dendritic cells
- Granulocytes
- Haematopoietic stem cells
- Lymphocytes
- Monocytes
- Myeloid cells
- NK cells
- T cells
- Link to Stem Cell catalogue
Contact us to discuss your project and to find out how we can help.
Nucleic Acid Extractions
We offer a high-quality extraction service for both DNA and RNA from a wide range of starting material to meet your project demands.
For DNA, we offer both high volume (Promega Maxwell® RSC) and low volume extractions (Qiagen Qiacube). Using the Qiagen RNeasy kits, we have successfully extracted quality RNA with good DV200 values from FFPE blocks as old as 20 years, PAXgene bloods, snap-frozen muscle and mouse skin biopsies and cell lines.
We understand the need for good quality DNA and RNA for downstream reactions and our nucleic acids have been successfully used for Genome Wide Association Studies and various genotyping assays such as Sanger sequencing, MLPA and Next Generation Sequencing including RNA exome sequencing and TCR clonal sequencing.
Nucleic acids extractions using Qiagen kits are automated on the Qiacube, enables us to provide high quality extractions while minimising batch variation for quantitative analyses.
Translational wet lab experiments
We are open to collaboration on wet lab experiments to support translational research projects. See selected publications below for examples of our work
Maughan RT, MacDonald-Dunlop E, Haroon-Rashid L, Sorensen L, Chaddock N, Masters S, Porter A, Peverelli M, Pericleous C, Hutchings A, Robinson J, Youngstein T, Luqmani RA, Mason JC, Morgan AW, Peters JE. Proteomic profiling of the large vessel vasculitis spectrum identifies shared signatures of innate immune activation and stromal remodelling. Arthritis Rheumatol 2025 Jan 16.
Weber A, Zulcinski M, Haroon-Rashid L, Kuszlewicz B, Driessen A, Newton D, Morgan AW, Martínez MR. Identification of clonally expanded T-cell receptor sequences in giant cell arteritis. J Autoimmun 2025 Vol. 151
Robinson JI, Yusof MYM, Davies V, Wild D, Morgan M, Taylor JC, El-Sherbiny Y, Morris DL, Liu L, Rawstron AC, Buch M, Plant D, Cordell HJ, Isaacs JD, Bruce IN, Emery P, Barton A, Vyse TJ, Barrett JH, Vital EMJ, Morgan AW on behalf of the MATURA and MASTERPLANS Consortia. Comprehensive genetic and functional analysis of FcγR in rituximab therapy for autoimmunity reveals a key role for FcγRIIIa on NK cells. EBioMedicine 2022 86:104343.
Keller CW, Chuquisana O, Derdelinckx J, Gross CC, Berger K, Robinson JI, Nimmerjahn F, Wiendl H, Willcox N, Lünemann JD. Impaired B Cell Expression of the Inhibitory Fcγ Receptor IIB in Myasthenia Gravis Annals of Neurology Dec 2022 Vol 92:6.