Olink proteomics platform

Olink affinity proteomics is a next-generation technology that quantifies thousands of biologically relevant proteins at low concentration in collections of clinical samples including plasma, serum, CSF and urine.

Each protein is detected in a highly sensitive and specific way with multiplexing, only using microlitres of sample. A pair of oligo-tagged antibodies to drive a proximity extension assay, generating target-specific DNA sequences that are measured by qPCR or next-generation sequencing.

Protein quantifications are reported on a relative “NPX” log2 scale, enabling comparisons between samples.

Olink at WEHI is open to external collaborators, to enquire please contact us.

Use cases include:

• disease biomarker set discovery
• profiling inflammatory mediators in disease and control patient cohort
• identification of protein Quantitative Trait Loci (pQTL) in tandem with genotyping data.

For examples, see

• Budnik et al. (2024) – Novel proteomics-based plasma test for early detection of multiple cancers in the general population
•  Sun et al. (2023) – Plasma proteomic associations with genetics and health in the UK Biobank.

The WEHI Advanced Genomics Facility and Genomics lab offer Olink Explore and Explore-HT platforms, while the mid-plex Target, Flex and Focus panels are run through our partners at the Monash Proteomics and Metabolomics Platform.

We also collaborate with WEHI’s proteomics and bioinformatics teams to facilitate projects integrating multiple ‘omics technologies and approaches.

WEHI was the first in Australia to operate Olink Target in 2022, and we are now taking projects for the Olink Explore and Explore-HT platforms.

We offer Olink for researchers under either a collaborative cost-recovery model, or a fee-for-service model.

Return to The WEHI Advanced Genomics Facility page.