News, current developments

• We are switching from planar microarray technology to bead microarrays. The main reason is that microbeads seem to have entered the routine medical laboratory diagnostics field more pronouncedly. Our aim is to develop dedicated quantitative serum antibody assays based on our patent pending TEMBIA technology.

· Our PCT application for a patent on dual-titration technology is entering the national phase this year (2026).

• Our collaborations with mathematicians resulted in a series of theoretical and experimental papers on quantitative serology (2025).
  - on the abstract landscape of antigens and antibodies: https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4468/11/3/43
  - on the quantitative measurement of antibodies: https://www.mdpi.com/1424-8220/22/10/3962; https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/immunology/articles/10.3389/fimmu.2025.1494624/full; https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/immunology/articles/10.3389/fimmu.2025.1657633/full;
  - on the visualization of antibody reactivity: https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4468/14/3/68

• We introduced the basophil activation test (BAT) as our service for registered partners (2023).

• Our project VEKOP-2.1.1-15-2016-00098, which aimed the development of fluorescence-based cellular and molecular assays for allergy diagnostics, was successfully closed. Following a fine-tuning period for improving the sensitivity and reproducibility of cellular assays we started testing clinical blood samples to assess the diagnostic value of our novel assays. These assays introduce metals and food components into the palette of allergens that so far consisted of drugs only. Besides the better known IgE-mediated hypersensitivity reactions, T cell-mediated allergic reactions are also becoming important targets of laboratory diagnostic assays.

• We published a new generalized model of antibody homeostasis in Clinical and Translational Immunology, which provides a unified view of natural and induced antibodies, starting from B-cell development to antibody effector functions.
  You can read these publications here
  - B-cell development: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1038/cti.2016.89
  - Antibody network theory: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1038/cti.2016.90
  - Antibody effector functions: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1038/cti.2017.50

• 2016 Apr 19-20. Diagnosticum participated at the MMM workshop in Potsdam, Germany, sharing our experience and looking for partnerships in the field of microarraying and microfluidics.

• 2016 Apr Results of a 24-month EU FP7 project called GAPAID were published in PLoS ONE. These results highlight the role of the complement system in systemic lupus erythematosus, also pointing out the potential of novel diagnostic tests.

• 2015 Dec We finalized screening tests with a novel ELISA for the simultaneous detection of two blood proteins (albumin and hemoglobin) in stool. The assay could be used for improved the detection of occult blood instead/besides guajac-based (gFOBT), immunological (FIT) and DNA tests when screening for colorectal carcinomas.