Overview

The study of antibodies is critical to understanding the immune response in health and disease, including the response to infection, vaccines, or newly developed drugs. However, accurately characterizing protein interactions in the complex, protein-rich environment of serum or plasma presents significant challenges. Traditional approaches to minimize background noise, such as dilution or blocking agents, can compromise reliability and applicability. The widely used ELISA can report only a simplistic antibody titer and is susceptible to non-specific surface binding and inter-laboratory variability. Our Seroaffinity and Concentration (SAffCon) Assay overcomes these challenges by directly measuring antibody affinity and calibration-free concentration in clinical samples, without the need for immobilization or purification. 

MDS provides an immobilization-free characterization method.

Fig 1. Comparison of serum antibody characterization using surface immobilization in ELISA vs. MDS.

Case Study

Both COVID-19 infection and vaccination induce high-affinity cross-clade responses to SARS-CoV-2 variants.

iScience 2022, 25, 104766; DOI: 10.1016/j.isci.2022.104766

Emmenegger et al. from the University Hospital Zurich, report that serum antibodies against the wild-type, delta, and omicron variants of SARS-CoV-2 have similar affinity, indicating a broad cross-clade immune response. Changes in antibody titers were primarily driven by B-cell expansion, rather than affinity maturation, after infection or vaccination. 

“

[MDS] is the breakthrough that gives us invaluable new insights and could be a game-changer for our ability to understand, diagnose, and treat COVID-19.

Professor Adriano Aguzzi

University Hospital Zurich

Get started

To determine the affinity and the concentration of antibodies in serum, we recommend the following:

Serum

Fluidity One-M

Fluidity Intelligence

Results

Affinity and Concentration

Workflow specification and benefits:

• 2-3 hours for data collection and analysis 
• K_D range from nM to µM  
• Concentration ranges from nM to µM 
• Minimum sample volume is 60 µL 
• 12 µl of sample per triplicate  
• Quick & easy to perform