The Forsyth Institute and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center--in collaboration with Quanterix--are using biomarkers to create molecular diagnostic tests to detect the active form of tuberculosis infection, which could then help physicians select those patients who need treatment. The test will combine a panel of low-abundance protein urine biomarkers from the Forsyth Institute with Quanterix's single molecule array (SiMoA) technology, which can increase the sensitivity of immunoassays. "The Forsyth Institute has utilized a proteomics-based approach to identify a panel of novel M. tuberculosis markers present in the urine of human patients with active TB, but conventional protein detection platforms lack the analytical sensitivity to reliably detect these proteins in urine or blood," explained David Duffy, vice president of research at Quanterix. "Using SiMoA, we are routinely able to improve the sensitivity of existing immunoassays by more than 1,000-fold, enabling accurate measurement of analytes that have previously been considered undetectable." Press release