The Aptamarker platform is a top-down approach to next-generation high- plex proteomics. We convert protein abundance information to DNA abundance in a manner analogous to what Olink and SomaLogic have developed, but with several improvements based on the following innovations:

• FRELEX binding assays: We use an antisense immobilized on resin to act as a competitor for aptamer binding rather than to the target. This enables the detection of aptamer binding to proteins without a need to immobilize them, thus retaining capacity for detecting protein complexes and folding patterns.
• Neomer library: We have reinvented aptamer development by reducing the number of random nucleotides while increasing the structural diversity of the library. We currently apply a library of the same 16.8 million aptamers (Aptamarkers) to each sample.
• The Aptamarker concept: To discover non-canonical biomarkers we focus on discovering Aptamarkers that bind to such targets without a need to know the identity of the target. We then have the capacity to identify the target once we have determined it is of diagnostic value.

Other biomarker discovery technologies are bottom-up approaches. Both companies have expended tremendous effort identifying probes (antibodies or aptamers) that bind to the canonical form of specific proteins, one protein at a time. Our approach is more powerful and simpler because we apply a library of 16.8 million Aptamarkers to every sample. These Aptamarkers bind to both canonical proteins and non-canonical forms of these proteins including post-translational modifications, cleavage events, folding, and complexes. Pathophysiologies often arise from non-canonical forms of proteins (proteins breaking bad…). Our platform has the capacity to identify these directly.

Traditional proteomics is based on direct measurement of the proteins. By translating protein information into DNA information, it is possible to employ the power of next generation sequencing and qPCR analysis for rapid and simple quantification. Transcriptomics is closer to our platform than traditional proteomics, but transcriptomics is limited to information at the RNA level. This does not include important variables such as translation rates and protein half-life.

Yes, unlike other platforms we are prepared to release sequences to collaborators in projects for direct commercial development of diagnostic test kits.

In the Aptamarker process we validate information gained from next generation sequencing through qPCR analysis. Thus, qPCR applications are implicit in the discovery of the Aptamarkers. It is a simple matter to translate this to a commercially feasible, regulatory approved diagnostic application.