Start with your markers and your protocol
Send us the markers that matter, your collection device, your elution buffer and your expected volumes. We will tell you which markers are realistically detectable after elution dilution, what the study will need, and whether a pilot is the right first step. We answer within one working day.
If you have not fixed your collection protocol yet, start there. Collection sets the ceiling on what any platform can measure.
WHAT IS nasal lining fluid
Local immune biology, sampled non-invasively
Nasal lining fluid carries the local immune signature of the nasal epithelium: cytokines, chemokines and soluble mediators at the site where allergen, virus and pollutant first interact with the host.
Collection is quick, well tolerated, repeatable in the same participant, and practical in children. That opens study designs which are difficult or impossible with venepuncture or invasive respiratory sampling.
The analytical problem is that the same sample is close to undetectable on a conventional immunoassay.
THE CHALLENGE
Why nasal lining fluid defeats most assays
Elution dilution
Samples are washed off the collection strip into buffer, diluting them several-fold. The amount absorbed also varies between people, nostrils and visits, so the true dilution is never precisely known.
Buffer interference
Elution needs detergent to release proteins and protease inhibitors to protect them. Both are necessary, and the assay has to tolerate both.
The result
Samples reach the assay dilute, in detergent, with an uncertain dilution factor. Conventional ELISA returns non-detects, and a standard multiplex can use the whole sample on a few markers and still come back empty.
Too often, a valuable sample is abandoned for blood, which answers a different question.
our approach
Enough sensitivity to survive the dilution
Nasal lining fluid has been shown to work on an ultra-sensitive platform built for exactly this problem: small, dilute, buffer-borne samples that need breadth and sensitivity at once.
1. Barcoded antibodies
Each antibody pair carries a DNA tag.
2. Capture and wash
Detergent, buffer and other interfering material are washed away before measurement.
3. Attomolar sensitivity
Counting barcodes detects proteins at levels where elution would push them below detection on a conventional assay.
What the published data shows
In nasal swabs, 175 to 200 of 250 inflammatory proteins (70 to 80%) were detected, higher than in sputum.
No equivalent figure has been published for absorptive strips, which add their own elution step, so the swab figure shouldn’t be read across.
We establish what strips give for your markers in a pilot, on your own protocol.
how it works
What you gain
Non-invasive
No needle, no scope, no invasive airway procedure.
Repeatable
Repeated sampling in the same participant, which longitudinal mucosal immunology requires.
Paediatric-friendly
Practical where blood sampling creates a recruitment or study-design barrier.
Suited to dense sampling schedules
Viable for daily or per-visit collection across a challenge study or an exposure window.
Decentralised designs
Nasal sampling supports remote and decentralised collection in ways venepuncture and bronchoscopy cannot.
Protocol input before you collect
We advise on device, dwell time and elution buffer before a study starts, while the choices are still open.
NASAL SWABS
Samples you may already have
Brush and swab sampling gives a related but distinct view of the same surface, and also works on the platform.
A typical workflow
Wash both into a few millilitres of PBS.
Centrifuge gently to clear cells and debris.
Store the supernatant at −80°C.
Don’t discard leftover material
If your study already collects nasal swabs for virology or transcriptomics, the residual material is often enough to add a protein readout, with no extra collection burden.
Ask us before you throw it away.
HOW IT WORKS
How the sample reaches us
1. Collection
2. Elution
3. Processing
4. Study consistency
Before you fix your protocol
If you are designing a collection protocol from scratch, talk to us before you finalise it. The decisions made at collection set the ceiling on what any platform can measure afterwards, and they cannot be undone at analysis.
WHAT TO USE
Choosing a panel
Nasal work centres on the cytokines, chemokines and immune mediators of the mucosal surface, measured in a single run from a single sample.
Sample requirements
Collection device: synthetic absorptive matrix strip, or cytobrush for swab sampling. Tell us which and we will work to it.
Dwell time: short and defined. Record it, and keep it consistent across the study.
Elution buffer: PBS with low-concentration detergent such as 0.05% Tween-20, plus protease inhibitors. Record the exact composition.
Volume to ship: set by the assay rather than by the matrix. Ship what your assay requires plus roughly 10 µL of dead volume, so a repeat stays possible. Tell us your elution buffer volume and typical recovery and we will confirm the usable volume of eluate at scoping.
Processing: centrifuged, supernatant retained.
Aliquoting: single-use aliquots.
Freeze and thaw: as few cycles as possible, and within the limit for the platform you will run: up to three to five cycles on NULISA depending on panel, three to four on Simoa, two on MSD.
Storage: −80°C.
Shipping: on dry ice, with a manifest listing sample ID, volume, elution buffer, dilution factor, nostril, collection date and freeze and thaw history.
Nostril and dwell time matter here in a way they do not in plasma. Record both.
These are recommendations, not conditions. If your protocol is already validated, tell us what it is and we will design around it.
We confirm receipt and condition in writing within two working days, before anything is consumed.
Shipping samples internationally
We can arrange collection and shipping, or work with your preferred courier. Either way we confirm the logistics, temperature control and documentation at scoping, before any samples move.
Why you can trust this now
Discuss your matrix with a scientist
Send us your markers, collection device, elution buffer and expected volumes. We’ll advise you what’s realistically detectable, which panel fits and whether a pilot is the right first step.