On Oct. 19, 2020, Bio-Techne announced that ProteinSimple, a Bio-Techne brand, released its SARS-CoV-2 Multi-Antigen Serology Module for Jess and Wes Simple Western automated western blotting systems. The SARS-CoV-2 multi-antigen assay for Simple Western offers quantitative characterization of patient serum or plasma derived human IgG antibodies reactive against recombinant Nucleocapsid protein (N), S1 receptor binding domain protein (RBD), S1 subunit full length, S2 subunit full length, and Spike (S1+S2) viral antigens within one 3-hour run.

ProteinSimple’s Simple Western systems are automated, hands-free western blotting platforms that can be used for antigen-down serology assays for SARS-CoV-2. The Simple Western serology assay moves beyond 1- or 2-antigen serology assays to measure serum or plasma antibodies reactive against five SARS-CoV-2 antigens simultaneously, providing information-rich views into antibody binding profiles across patients and over the time course of the infection. The SARS-CoV-2 multi-antigen serology assay runs on Jess and Wes systems, enabling the processing of 23 patient samples in 3 hours. This approach has promise as a tool to rapidly characterize patient immune response and as an orthogonal confirmatory test to validate results derived from lateral flow, ELISA (enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay) or other immunoassay serology techniques.

Traditional Western blots have many drawbacks in a fast-moving research or clinical setting including being slow, labor intensive and lacking reproducibility. Simple Western systems overcome the drawbacks of traditional western blots by providing automation, rapid time to quantitative results, and reproducibility. The SARS-CoV-2 multi-antigen serology assay demonstrates high specificity and correlates well with ELISA.