Arrayit, Parkinson's Institute seek biomarkers

Life sciences technology developer Arrayit has formed a research collaboration with the Parkinson's Institute of Sunnyvale, Calif., to discover biomarkers for Parkinson's disease.

This study involves the prospective collection of samples from well-characterized Parkinson's patients utilizing two proprietary platforms: Arrayit's new H25K microarray and PlasmaScan 80. According to the Sunnyvale, Calif.-based Arrayit, the first studies have enabled rapid sample preparation of specimens from Parkinson's disease patients, which could lead to the discovery of molecular markers for Parkinson's disease.

Arrayit has created an antibody microarray containing monoclonal antibodies generated against native human plasma proteins. The PlasmaScan antibodies are provided by BioSystems International. They react with native human proteins with proper folding and post-translation modification to exhibit high antibody binding. The Arrayit microarray platform with the PlasmaScan monoclonal antibodies enables the exploration and identification of novel biomarkers in the human plasma proteome, the company said.