In episode 6 of “Under the Microscope” Carmen Martin-Ruiz introduces us to “The Bio Screening Facility” at Newcastle University and explains the range of services on offer to support diagnostic development.

Hi Carmen. Can you introduce yourself and tell us your background, and current role?

My name is Carmen Martin-Ruiz, and I lead the Bio Screening Core Facility at the Campus for Ageing and Vitality (Health and Innovation Neighbourhood).

I did my degree in Biology in Granada (Spain) and my PhD in Human Physiology in Paris (France). From my initial post-doc on nicotinic receptors in age‑related dementia, schizophrenia, and autism I then moved on to cell senescence and ageing.

Later I was put in charge of the Newcastle 85+ study blood sample processing and the assessment of biomarkers of cell senescence, inflammation and immunosenescence that could inform on health trajectories. My lab then became part of the Newcastle NIHR Biomedical Research Centre where we focused on novel molecular markers that could inform clinicians on their interventions on a varied range of diseases.

Tell me about the Bio Screening facility.

The Bio Screening Facility is dedicated to enabling research on the translation of biologically relevant markers at cell and tissue level onto the clinical trial setting.

We are an experienced laboratory, operating under Good Clinical Practice (GCP), offering a wide range of procedures for the processing and analysis of clinical and non-clinical research samples, with particular expertise on the screening of candidate biomarkers.

We are involved in the comprehensive delivery of a wide range of research projects in both the academic and the clinical environments. From sample handling, biobanking, logistical support and sample processing to biomarker validation and analysis (proteins and nucleic acids).

Who are your customers and what kind of services do you offer?

Besides working with academic researchers, we are an approved vendor for Newcastle Hospitals, as well as external companies, which means that we can greatly support the planning and execution stages of clinical trials interested in new diagnostic biomarkers.

In general, these biomarkers are analytes that do not make part of routine clinical biochemistry tests. Therefore, we explore what the optimal sample is, the sample logistics, how can it be measured practically and reliably within the constraints of the clinical project, and we undertake the methodological validation of those biomarkers (detection limits, consistency, sensitivity) and their analysis at a “mid-throughput” level to achieve epidemiological value.

Tell me how you work with other DxNE partners?

We work in close connection with the Genomic Core Facility (GCF) and the Bioinformatic Support Unit (BSU) in the context of genomic or transcriptomic sequencing studies: we process the clinical samples for RNA or DNA isolation and any additional treatments; these samples sometimes require complex processing, so their yield fits the needs for the sequencing; the GCG performs the sequencing and the BSU carries out the bioinformatic analysis of the sequencing data.

We tightly coordinate our processes from the randomisation of the samples for a balanced statistical analysis to the barcoding and qualification of the samples prior to their sequencing.

These 3-way collaborations across facilities have proven to be highly successful across many sequencing projects, such as the PEFORM HR study – working with limited blood samples from immunocompromised young patients.

Tell me how you support diagnostic development.

We do not design diagnostic kits, but provide support for the validation of diagnostics, and their candidate biomarkers. Our support includes liaising with all the relevant teams to deliver the project (e.g. the Biobank and nursing team to support sample collection and management), developing assays, up-scaling and increasing sensitivity of methods, and providing expertise to translate biomarkers used in some clinical areas for use in other applications.

For example:

• We have provided sample processing support on a Europe-wide Phase 1b/2 Clinical Trial on a new Human Papilloma Virus (HPV) vaccine.
• We isolated RNA from mice tumours to the amount and quality required for sequencing.
• We have applied our expertise in measuring senescence and inflammatory markers around ageing and age-related diseases onto other pathologies (diabetes, preeclampsia, affective disorders, etc.) and develop numerous new ones.
• We have validated the use of fixed tissue sections for the isolation of proteins and subsequent analysis by ELISA of a candidate biomarker for Oesophageal cancer.
• As part of an Arrow Collaboration, we have tested a novel PCR enhancer mixture by CellFluiDx across 10 different commercial qPCR kits.

 

Tell me about the future for your group.

We are now planning to incorporate ultra-sensitive digital ELISA to our capabilities to overcome some of the limitations that we encounter on the assessment of inflammatory biomarkers in actual samples from patients and controls to generate comprehensive and coherent datasets.

We are also continuously adding new biomarkers to our portfolio, and when possible, we aim to upscale them to a 384-well format to increase our output as well as the reliability of the methods.

How should collaborators or clients engage with you?

For further information, please get in touch.

Dr Carmen Martin-Ruiz

Email: bioscreening.cav@ncl.ac.uk or carmen.martin-ruiz@ncl.ac.uk

Tel: +44 (0) 191 2481107
Web page: https://www.ncl.ac.uk/bsf/contact/

Address:

Bio Screening Facility
Newcastle University
Ageing Research Laboratories
Health Innovation Neighbourhood
Newcastle upon Tyne
NE4 5PL

Some client testimonials are below:

“We used the Bio Screening facility for their PBMC isolation and cryopreservation service. The team have been phenomenal in their attention to detail and communication, they consistently provided us with high quality service throughout the trial.”                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               

Raisha Kennerley, Barinthus Biotherapeutics plc.

“We used the Bio Screening service for RNA extraction of tissues and were extremely happy with the results. Their service was quick, communication was efficient, and we can move on to downstream analysis safe in the knowledge the RNA we are using is of the highest quality.”                                                                                                                                                                                       

Cole Sims, Team Leader – Biology, Lightox 

“I first approached the team with a very nebulous problem. We had samples that we wanted to find a way to investigate for a particular biomarker, but no idea how to do it ourselves. She and her team took our samples and our very vague description of the problem, and generated some good preliminary data that we can build on as well as a protocol to work with for future samples. They also helped my team to understand how to look at the data, as it was a new area for us. We plan to build upon this for future work and will reach out to them again.”                 

Sarah Killcoyne, PhD, Head of R&D, Cyted, Cambridge, UK