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Need a Hand? Ask Our Custom Assay Experts at the LuminexPLORE Lab
by Luminex
Luminex Launches MagPlex® Monitoring Microspheres for xMAP® Assays
We’re pleased to announce we’ve added an important new tool for Luminex customers to our xMAP® portfolio: MagPlex® Monitoring Microspheres! These monitoring beads make it possible to assess reporter values and reporter channel performance in every well, and are especially helpful during assay development.
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Luminex Senior Field Application Scientist Stephen Angeloni, PhD, has worked with a pre-commercial version of this product for years. “It’s very handy to have these beads in the reaction so if a problem does arise, you can quickly identify whether it’s on the instrument side or the assay side,” he shares. “They’re useful for quality control in an assay, and are particularly helpful for new users of xMAP systems,” he adds.
Stephen has used these beads to help customers who had technical challenges with their assays, such as weak signals or unexpected fluorescence patterns. Adding monitoring beads made it easier to troubleshoot the cause of those issues. With the added quality control these beads provided, he was able to identify common culprits in many assay development workflows, including reagents that have degraded over time, forgotten detection reagents, and inaccurate pipette volumes.
“The benefits of these beads also extend to assay kits that are being used at different sites,” Stephen adds. “It’s important to have a control element to ensure that an assay and instruments are performing the same at all sites—these beads can help with that.” These microspheres are also a great fit for Luminex Partners developing new xMAP-based assays.
Empowering xMAP users to get answers when they need them
In the past, monitoring beads were a great tool for helping xMAP users who sought out assay development support from our experts. Now, as a commercially available product, these microspheres will be more widely available, offering a valuable resource to anyone interested in monitoring assay performance. They can help users troubleshoot unexpected MFI patterns, weak signals, and other issues that may arise.
The decision to launch the beads as a standalone product was influenced in part by the release of the new xMAP INTELLIFLEX® System. With the development of the dual reporter channel—and the need to clearly distinguish which channel each data point comes from—these beads can provide a valuable extra layer of information. “Having these beads in your assay can tell you right away if you’re looking at data from the RP1 or RP2 channel,” Stephen says.
The beads are magnetic polystyrene microspheres that have been color-coded for classification in regions 45 or 222, and provide reporter MFI values specific to instrument type and reporter modes. The reporter dyes are inside the beads rather than on the surface, so there is no modification necessary to use them in your regular xMAP workflow. They can simply be combined with the other beads needed for an assay.
Two MagPlex Monitoring Microspheres are available corresponding to the reporter channel being monitored: MagPlex RP1 Monitor beads (Region 45), which are compatible with all xMAP instruments, including the MAGPIX®, Luminex® 200TM, FLEXMAP 3D®, xMAP INTELLIFLEX®, and xMAP INTELLIFLEX® DR-SE systems; and MagPlex RP2 Monitor beads (Region 222), which are only compatible with the xMAP INTELLIFLEX DR-SE System. As a note, MagPlex Monitoring Microspheres require xPONENT® or xMAP INTELLIFLEX software.
Like all things xMAP, the inclusion of these monitoring beads can lead to additional time and resource savings—but don’t just take our word for it, check out other multiplexing applications in our publications database from xMAP users across the world!
Want to Be an xMAP®Rock Star? Our Training Courses Can Help
As developers of xMAP® Technology, we’re passionate about empowering researchers to get the most out of their xMAP-based platforms and assays. We design our products and software tools to be as intuitive and easy-to-use as possible, but we also offer various kinds of training and technical support courses for new and veteran users alike, supporting everything from streamlining your assay and mastering a new skill to automating your workflow and upgrading your platform.
Whether you’re designing your own assays or running off-the-shelf xMAP assays from our partners, you can count on us to ensure you have the technical knowledge you need.
Luminex Learning through the years
For years, our Technical Training group has hosted Learning Sessions, providing our users with tips and tricks from our experts on how to get the most out of our instruments and assays. With the COVID-19 pandemic and the resulting lockdowns, we quickly shifted to virtual training, fine-tuning our courses to create remote program options.
This led to an engaging, multi-day training course featuring a variety of approaches, including presentations, step-by-step demonstrations, and a live Q&A session with our scientists. “It’s like a cooking showstyle class where we demonstrate how to do everything,” says Terrin Blackmon, Senior Technical Training Coordinator at Luminex.
These virtual courses have provided accessibility and flexibility for our community, so we plan to continue offering them well into next year (and beyond). We also intend to resume in-person Luminex Learning Sessions once it is safe and feasible to do so. Here are some of the things you can expect to cover in our training classes:
Instrument Session(s) • Learn how to develop an assay and perform a mock assay run • Understand instrument components • Learn basic commands and routines in xPONENT® Software • Analyze data and export results
Assay Session(s) (available for proteomic or nucleic acid assays) • Determine the appropriate assay format for various applications • Learn the coupling procedure • Learn the basics of assay optimization • Analyze data in xPONENT® Software
For these classes, the Technical Training team recommends that attendees have some basic familiarity with their Luminex instrument as well as regular access to it so they can practice their new skills after they complete the course. For virtual classes, we encourage attendees to sign in using a device with a microphone to make it easier to ask questions.
To learn more about Luminex Learning classes, view the schedule, or get in touch to find out about costs or availability, check out our website: luminexcorp.com/luminex-learning-sessions.
Quickly assay neutralizing antibodies to wild-type and variant SARS-CoV-2 RBD and S1 antigens.
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Supporting learning through bi-annual workshops
We host workshops at least twice each year, with courses that cover xMAP instruments (Luminex® 200™, MAGPIX®, and FLEXMAP 3D®) as well as assay development. Additionally, we run each course for five days, enabling our users to build a training schedule that makes sense for their lab. “This way users can pick and choose based on what they need,” Terrin says. “Maybe there’s a new person in the lab who needs to get up to speed on basic operations, or maybe someone wants insight into the principles of assay development.”
Rachel Wypych leads a class on the Luminex® 200TM System
Rapidly quantitate neutralizing antibodies against wild-type SARS-CoV-2 and variants using the Bio-Plex Pro Human SARS-CoV-2 Variant Neutralization Antibody 11-Plex Panel (for research use only). Assess the efficacy of COVID-19 vaccines and monoclonal antibody therapeutics or compare the effectiveness of antibody responses to emerging variants of concern. Screen all or select variants of interest or concern with the panel’s flexible design.
