Chris Whelan
chrisdwhelan.bsky.social
Chris Whelan
@chrisdwhelan.bsky.social
Director of Neuroscience Data Science at J&J. Interested in population proteomics, genetics, neuroscience & biomarker development. 🇮🇪🧠🧬
The UKB-PPP consortium should receive the first tranche of ~100k samples this autumn and subsequent tranches throughout 2026. Data releases to all approved UKB researchers will begin next year.
January 11, 2025 at 2:32 PM
*Alden Scientific, Amgen/deCODE genetics, AstraZeneca, Bristol Myers Squibb, Calico Life Sciences, Genentech, GSK, Isomorphic Labs, Johnson & Johnson, Merck Group, Novo Nordisk, Pfizer, Regeneron and Takeda.
January 10, 2025 at 8:18 AM
I'm deeply grateful to the hundreds of collaborators working across fourteen biopharmaceutical companies*, two technology vendors, and one remarkable biobank for making this possible.
January 10, 2025 at 8:18 AM
This initiative again underpins the transformative value of public-private partnerships for drug development and healthcare and reemphasizes the quiet 'revolution' happening in the field of proteomics.
January 10, 2025 at 8:18 AM
This will allow us to build foundational AI models for biological discovery, study biomarkers that change over time in response to changes in health states, identify surrogate blood biomarkers for MRI endpoints, and - ultimately - develop better medicines & diagnostics.
January 10, 2025 at 8:18 AM
We will begin by profiling 300k samples, comprising approximately 250k samples collected at baseline visits and 50k samples taken at various follow-up assessments. We aim to incorporate an additional 250k baseline samples and 50k repeat samples pending additional funding.
January 10, 2025 at 8:18 AM
Reposted by Chris Whelan
Could be combined in the future with a continuous sensor (implant) for real-time detection of proteins driving inflammation in high-risk individuals
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
@science.org
Active-reset protein sensors enable continuous in vivo monitoring of inflammation
Continuous measurement of proteins in vivo is important for real-time disease management and prevention. Implantable sensors for monitoring small molecules such as glucose have been available for more...
www.science.org
December 11, 2024 at 7:54 PM
Possibly, but Alamar is low-plex by design (n~250) & captures many low-abundance proteins - not necessarily the most widely studied. Mike’s comment & Jochen’s review offer important perspectives; abundance levels seem to influence confidence in cross-platform detection (higher = more confidence).
November 21, 2024 at 8:36 PM
Reposted by Chris Whelan
Here we tried to provide some objective views to the reoccurring discussion:

pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/...

The key is to understand the biases and factors causing the differences in the data. Those can include and do go beyond the antibodies.
The Circulating Proteome─Technological Developments, Current Challenges, and Future Trends
Recent improvements in proteomics technologies have fundamentally altered our capacities to characterize human biology. There is an ever-growing interest in using these novel methods for studying the ...
pubs.acs.org
November 21, 2024 at 9:33 AM
Yes, “good” is relative to what’s been reported before. It’s the median correlation across 217 commonly measured proteins, with a wide range overall. More documentation of the antibodies used +/ epitopes bound could partially address the problem, but might be impractical to implement.
November 21, 2024 at 8:04 AM
We’ve found Olink & Alamar to correlate quite well (~60%) overall. Maybe unsurprising, since both are antibody-based.

Lack of correlation b/w SomaScan & others might reveal interesting facets of the aptamer tech (protein folding, PTMs, etc) but 100% agree that infighting is bad for the field.
November 20, 2024 at 11:35 PM