Neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's present unique challenges for early detection, patient stratification, and treatment monitoring. In this interview, David Wolk discusses their current research focus and offers perspective on the rapidly advancing utility of biofluid biomarkers. Recent breakthroughs in Alzheimer's disease research highlight the promise of fluid-based assays to complement imaging modalities like PET and MRI, offering less invasive and more scalable options for diagnosis and disease monitoring. The conversation explores key requirements for accelerating biomarker discovery to clinical implementation, including study design, infrastructure, and validation strategies. Particular attention is given to the impact of small absolute quantification panels and the ability to measure multiple markers at the pg/mL level, both of which hold potential to address current limitations and reshape study design. Looking ahead, the discussion considers how biofluid biomarkers will influence clinical practice and drug development by enabling earlier detection, guiding patient selection and stratification, and serving as critical tools in the design and evaluation of clinical trials for neurodegenerative diseases.

The UK Biobank Pharma Proteomics Project (UKB-PPP) has created one of the world’s largest proteomics datasets, offering unprecedented opportunities for biomarker discovery, disease association studies, and translational research. In this webinar, Klev Diamanti, Senior Data Scientist at Olink Proteomics, will demonstrate practical approaches for navigating and analyzing UK Biobank proteomics data. Participants will learn how to explore disease associations, investigate pathways, and design studies using intuitive tools such as Olink Insight, as well as how to combine UK Biobank data with in-house datasets for deeper insights. The session will highlight different strategies suited to varying levels of expertise, from exploratory analysis to advanced in silico workflows, and showcase how these resources can accelerate hypothesis generation and disease-focused research.

NSCLC (Non Small Cell Lung Cancer) remains the leading cause of cancer mortality despite the success of immune checkpoint blockade (ICB) as first-line therapy. Although patients can be stratified into therapeutic response groups using cancer associated features like low tumor mutational burden or PDL1 expression, cancers can acquire resistance mechanisms to ICB which subverts anti-tumor immunity. The induction and persistence of inflammation including type-one interferon (IFN-I) is one mechanism associated with immunosuppression. We show that delayed administration of itacitinib ,a JAK1 inhibitor, after αPD1 improves immune function and anti-tumor responses in mice. The effects of itacitinib and αPD1 can be phenocopied with αIFNAR1 and αPD1 blockade suggesting a shared mechanism in improving responses to ICB. These results prompted the initiation of a phase-2 clinical trial for metastatic NSCLC with tumor PDL1≥50% (NCT03425006). Treatment naïve patients received 2 cycles of pembrolizumab (200mg every 21 days), followed by 2 cycles of pembrolizumab and 6 weeks of itacitinib (200mg daily po), followed by pembrolizumab alone until disease progression. In our study, the best overall response rate (BOR) was 67% with median progression-free survival (PFS) of 27.6 months—substantially higher than comparable randomized studies (NCT02142738) which reported BOR of 44% and median PFS of 6.5 to 10.3 months. We found that patients with low IFN-I inflammation responded to pembrolizumab; whereas patients with elevated IFN-I inflammation were initially unresponsive to αPD1, but turned αPD1-responsive after itacitinib. Itacitinib promoted CD8 T cell plasticity and improved therapeutic responses of exhausted and effector-memory clonotypes. In contrast, patients with persistent IFN-I signaling were refractory to itacitinib and showed progressive CD8 T cell terminal differentiation and progressive disease. Thus, JAK1 inhibition may improve αPD1 efficacy by pivoting CD8 T cell differentiation dynamics.

This talk will highlight how the Human Protein Atlas has transformed proteomics and precision medicine, and how breakthrough technologies like Proximity Extension Assay (PEA) have enabled discovery. Building on this legacy, we will share the latest results powered by the high-throughput Olink® Explore HT platform—demonstrating how it is unlocking new opportunities for biomarker discovery and translational research.

Sepsis is a systemic inflammatory response to infection, while severe sepsis is characterised by organ dysfunction due to dysregulated immune response. Septic shock is the most severe form of sepsis and results in reduced organ perfusion. Severe sepsis is associated with 30% mortality rate while that in septic shock is 30-40%. Globally, there are ~50 million cases of sepsis per year leading to 11 million deaths, making it a significant public health burden. Early diagnosis and prompt treatment are the critical in the management of severe sepsis and septic shock. However, sepsis-specific predictive biomarkers and organ protective therapeutics remain elusive.

In this study, we comprehensively profiled human serum from 31 patients suffering with varying degrees of septic shock stratified by vasoactive-inotropic score and 10 healthy donors using the OlinkExplore HT panel marking its first application in Australia. This proximity ligation approach allowed for simultaneous quantification of ~5,300 proteins in human serum, overcoming the inherent sensitivity issues with conventional mass spectrometry-enabled serum proteomics.

Our analysis revealed a distinct proteomic signature differentiating sepsis from healthy serum, highlighting circulating organ stress markers consistent with multi-organ failure, including cardiac, brain, lung, kidney, and muscle atrophy markers. Using our human cardiac organoid model, we then demonstrated cardiac dysfunction is directly induced by the sepsis serum, and can be attenuated by a novel epigenetic drug. In this pilot study, we were able to make direct correlations between serum proteins and the organoid functional outcome to uncover precise drivers of sepsis-induced cardiac dysfunction. Next, to uncover predictive biomarkers for organ-specific and pan-organ failure we performed a more advanced machine learning predictive analysis to identify secreted factors, such as cytokines, growth factors and metalloproteases associated with organ damage. Ongoing studies will assess the direct effect of these putative drivers on the relevant organs using human organoid models to identify potential therapeutic interventions.

Proteogenomics is poised to enter a new era, where insights from global population studies can illuminate biology that smaller or narrower cohorts could not reveal. This panel will examine what proteogenomics in global populations means for researchers working across different scientific and translational contexts, and why it matters for discovery and patient impact. Panelists will share examples where combining genomic and proteomic data across large, international populations has uncovered novel biology and new disease mechanisms that were previously overlooked. The discussion will touch on multi-omics approaches to complex conditions such as obesity and metabolism, efforts to address underrepresentation in African cohorts, and strategies to build the next generation of population-based studies. Finally, the panel will explore how academic–industry collaborations can accelerate progress, and how global population proteogenomics can help fulfill the urgent mandate to deliver what patients need next.

Human genetics has laid the foundation for numerous therapeutic advances, and the integration of protein quantitative trait loci (pQTL) mapping is now accelerating this progress. The SCALLOP consortium has assembled one of the largest resources of multiplex proteomics integrated with genome-wide association data, encompassing more than 65,000 individuals. This unique dataset provides unprecedented statistical power for drug target identification.

We will discuss how systematic pQTL mapping is uncovering causal roles for circulating proteins in cardiometabolic disorders, inflammatory diseases, and cancer. By leveraging approaches such as Mendelian randomization and genetic colocalization, hundreds of pQTLs have been linked to disease pathways, enabling mechanistic insights and target prioritization.

Looking ahead, we will explore next-generation directions in pQTL research, including longitudinal proteomic profiling, tissue-specific analyses, and genetic recall studies. Together, these efforts will deepen our understanding of protein-mediated disease mechanisms and advance the discovery of novel therapeutic targets.

Join us for a dynamic panel discussion with leading CROs / Olink Certified Service Providers. Whether you're in biotech, pharma, or academia, this conversation will reveal how strategic partnerships with CROs can give your research a competitive edge.

Faster Timelines, Greater Impact: CROs enable seamless execution across the translational pipeline—from biomarker discovery to clinical insights.

Proven Success, Scalable Results: Real-world collaborations show how outsourcing accelerates progress with flexibility and scale.

Confidence in Every Step: Olink Certified Service Providers bring deep expertise, tailored support, and solutions.

Protein biomarker discovery, validation, and application require technologies that deliver proteome insights with both breadth and depth. This panel will explore how combining liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry (LC-MS) with next-generation affinity-based methods, such as proximity extension assay (PEA), can overcome current limitations, expand proteome coverage, and accelerate biomarker discovery and validation, ultimately advancing clinical research.

This interactive panel brings together Olink experts to share practical insights and examples that will help you navigate the critical considerations to starting with proteomics, including platform selection and experimental design. We’ll cover foundational principles in proteomics, as well as crucial factors such as specificity, scalability, robustness, and detectability. Attendees will leave with a clearer understanding of how to evaluate different proteomics technologies and how to set their projects up for success—from initial study design through to meaningful biological interpretation.