Nightingale’s internationally recognized blood analysis technology utilizes NMR (nuclear magnetic resonance) spectroscopy and proprietary software to provide comprehensive health data from a single sample.
Nightingale’s biomarker analysis technology is based on nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy. The technology quantifies 250 biomarkers in absolute concentrations or ratios from either 100 µL or 350 µL serum or plasma. The development of the method has been based on three principles: absolute quantification with high accuracy and precision, maximal throughput with wide metabolic coverage, and cost-effectiveness. The goal is to enable the metabolic profiling of entire cohorts and biobanks to generate biologically meaningful data on a scientifically compelling scale. Following the principles, the entire sample analysis process has been standardized and automated to enable the fast and cost-efficient profiling of hundreds of thousands of samples in medical research and healthcare settings.
Nightingale's biomarker analysis technology is based on nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy. As a technology, NMR spectroscopy is widely used and encompasses many inherent, valuable qualities that also carry into our method. However, not all NMR metabolic profiling methods based on NMR spectroscopy are the same. Nightingale's platform is the first and currently the only truly large-scale metabolic biomarker profiling platform that also provides multiple clinically validated biomarkers. The technology is part of our proprietary intellectual property rights, and the related analysis service can only be purchased from Nightingale.
Our panel offers a comprehensive selection of metabolites spanning multiple pathways from one sample in one measurement. The metabolic pathways covered are known to be associated with human health, which means that their concentration in the blood stream reflects human physiology. Thus, you get a vast amount of physiologically relevant data in just one go.
We provide absolute concentrations which exactly tell you the level of the known metabolite in the bloodstream. Thus, you can easily analyze your results and compare to other studies.
The delivery of absolute concentrations in ready-to-use result files allows you to use the data for your research as soon as you get it – you need no expertise on NMR.
Our method has been calibrated against global standards and references. This means that the values we provide are comparable to the analyses performed on any other calibrated method. For example, our results are compatible with those from clinical chemistry, meaning you can analyze our results along with results from routine clinical chemistry, or even replace clinical chemistry with our measurements.
Our panel includes biomarkers that are also intrinsic measures of sample quality: their values alert us to possible quality issues with your samples. Furthermore, we compare your data against our population data and confidently identify possible deviations that may require your attention. You can use these results to select your samples for downstream assays or explain some of your observations.
Nightingale has a laboratory information management system (LIMS) developed in-house for tracking sample processing. Each step performed in the laboratory is documented in our database and a full analysis log for each sample can later be retrieved for inspection.
Our method keeps the samples essentially intact. All the samples in our laboratory are stored at -80 C until the time of planned measurement to minimize biological changes. The samples go through minimal sample preparation: there are no extraction steps, and only a phosphate buffer is added to each sample. This ensures that all your samples remain in a physiologically representative state: they are essentially the same as they were when the samples were drawn.
Detailed descriptions of Nightingale's sample analysis technology can be read in the following published papers that cover the experimental characteristics of our biomarker profiling technology.
Nightingale is committed to achieving high quality in all its services. Quality and compliance with all applicable regulatory and customer requirements underline all our operations.