Spear Bio to Unveil First Commercially Available Singleplex eMTBR-Tau Immunoassay and Novel pTau 217 Assay at AAIC 2026
核心洞察
Spear Bio (搜索) will launch the first commercially available singleplex eMTBR-Tau (搜索) immunoassay, enabling quantitative measurement of tau tangle-associated biology from ultra-low sample volumes.
A novel epTau 217 assay will be introduced for consistent pTau 217 (搜索) measurement across both venous and capillary blood, supporting broader Alzheimer's disease (搜索) research.
A new fully automated instrument platform will streamline SPEAR workflows from sample to qPCR-ready plate, reducing manual handling and improving assay consistency.
Spear Bio (搜索), an innovator in ultrasensitive protein biomarker detection, has announced plans to unveil a suite of new SPEAR immunoassay and instrument innovations at the Alzheimer's Association International Conference (AAIC) 2026, taking place July 12–15 in London, UK. The launches represent a significant expansion of the company's Alzheimer's disease (搜索) and neurodegenerative biomarker portfolio.
The centerpiece of the announcement is the first commercially available singleplex immunoassay for eMTBR-Tau (搜索), a biomarker associated with tau tangle pathology. Alongside it, Spear Bio (搜索) is introducing a novel epTau 217 assay designed to measure pTau 217 (搜索) consistently across both venous and capillary blood samples. The company is also debuting a fully automated instrument platform engineered to take SPEAR workflows from sample to qPCR-ready plate with minimal manual intervention.
"Our focus is on building innovations that help researchers answer questions that were previously difficult to address with conventional protein biomarker tools," said Feng Xuan, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Spear Bio (搜索). "As the field advances from biomarker discovery toward broader validation, vigorously verified assays become essential to generating reliable, reproducible insights."
Dissecting Alzheimer's Pathology with Dual Assays
The SPEAR eMTBR-Tau (搜索) immunoassay is designed as a standalone singleplex assay, providing researchers with a focused and quantitative approach to measuring tau tangle-associated biology. The SPEAR epTau 217 assay complements this by enabling consistent pTau 217 (搜索) measurement across venous and capillary blood, supporting broader investigation of amyloid-associated tau phosphorylation in Alzheimer's disease (搜索) research. Together, these tools give scientists the ability to investigate both amyloid-associated tau phosphorylation and tau tangle pathology from ultra-low sample volumes.
Both assays are built on Spear Bio (搜索)'s proprietary Successive Proximity Extension Amplification Reaction (SPEAR) technology, which combines attomolar sensitivity with a homogeneous, wash-free workflow. Requiring just 1 µL of diluted plasma, the SPEAR immunoassays help researchers preserve precious biospecimens while generating high-quality biomarker data across Alzheimer's disease (搜索), neurodegeneration, and preclinical research.
Automation to Support Scalable Adoption
The new instrument platform is designed to fully automate SPEAR workflows, reducing manual handling and supporting more consistent execution of ultrasensitive biomarker assays. According to the company, the system represents an important step in making SPEAR technology easier to adopt, scale, and integrate into research and clinical development laboratory workflows.
AAIC 2026 Scientific Program
Spear Bio (搜索) will exhibit at booth 322 and present new data spanning Alzheimer's disease (搜索), neurodegeneration, synucleinopathy, and TDP-43 proteinopathy. A product theater presentation titled "Introducing SPEAR epTau 217 and eMTBR-Tau (搜索): Dissecting Alzheimer's Pathologies from Early Tau Phosphorylation to Tau Tangle" will be delivered on Wednesday, July 15, featuring Dr. Nicholas Ashton, Senior Director of the Fluid Biomarker Program at Banner Health, and Dr. Tracy Liu, Director of Product Management at Spear Bio.
The company's poster presentations across the four-day conference will cover the SPEAR UltraDetect BD-pTau 217 (搜索) assay for amyloid pathology discrimination, mouse NF-L and pTau 217 assays for biomarker studies in mouse models, ultra-sensitive detection of α-Syn and pS129-α-Syn in biofluids and extracellular vesicles, and robust quantification of total and phosphorylated TDP-43 in plasma.
"By bringing together novel biomarker content, enabled by SPEAR's ultra-sensitivity and performance required for biomarker validation, we are providing researchers with a platform to measure complex Alzheimer's disease (搜索) biology and support the next stage of neurodegenerative disease research," Xuan added.