Alamar Biosciences Launches NULISAqpcr™ BD-pTau217 Assay: A Breakthrough in Non-Invasive, Brain-Specific Biomarker Detection for Alzheimer’s Disease Research

New Blood-Based Assay Delivers Unparalleled Sensitivity and Specificity to enable the next generation of assay development. 

FREMONT, Calif., Oct. 9, 2025 /PRNewswire/ — Alamar Biosciences, a company powering precision proteomics to enable the earliest detection of disease, today announced the launch of the NULISAqpcr™ BD-pTau217 Assay— a transformative leap in blood-based quantification of brain-derived phosphorylated tau 217 (pTau217)—a pivotal biomarker in Alzheimer’s disease research and other tauopathies. This first-of-its-kind assay is the only brain-derived single-plex solution available, setting a new benchmark for precision and CNS specificity in neurodegenerative disease research.

Built on Alamar’s proprietary NULISA™ platform, the NULISAqpcr BD-pTau217 Assay delivers unprecedented sensitivity and specificity from non-invasive sample types such as plasma, serum and dried blood spots. The research assay’s direct measurement of CNS-derived pTau217 without the need for cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) collection or PET imaging removes existing barriers to widespread adoption in population-based studies or longitudinal clinical trials.

“The NULISAqpcr BD-pTau217 Assay redefines what’s possible in CNS biomarker quantitation,” stated Dr. Yuling Luo, Founder, Chairman and CEO of Alamar Biosciences. “By removing the noise from the peripheral sources of tau, researchers can now detect meaningful changes in the brain earlier and with higher precision.”

“The performance of Alamar’s brain-specific plasma pTau217 assays is excellent,” said Jonathan Schott, MD, PhD, Professor of Neurology, University College London. “For the detection of Alzheimer’s pathology with cognitive symptoms, our early results suggest that the single-plex format performs at least as well as established plasma ptau217 tests, but has a higher fold-change, and results in fewer samples being classified in the indeterminate range. In a research setting, brain-specific pTaus measured using the multiplex assay show great promise in detecting asymptomatic individuals with high levels of Alzheimer’s pathology who may be candidates for clinical trials of disease modifying therapies.”

Available as a single-plex NULISAqpcr assay or within the multiplex NULISAseq™ CNS Disease Panel 120, the BD-pTau217 assay will support both discovery and translational research. The assay’s automated workflow enables processing of over 220 samples per day with the ARGO™ HT System, making it ideal for high-throughput analysis in disease cohorts or population-based studies. 

Alamar Biosciences continues to collaborate with the neuroscience community to unlock biomarker insights that accelerate progress in Alzheimer’s and beyond. Visit alamarbio.com to learn more.

The NULISA BD-pTau217 Assays are for research use only and not for use in diagnostic procedures.

About Alamar Biosciences, Inc.
Alamar Biosciences is a privately held life sciences company with a mission to power precision proteomics to enable the earliest detection of disease. The company’s proprietary NULISA™ Platform along with the ARGO™ HT System work seamlessly with the latest advances in genomics to achieve single digit attomolar detection sensitivity, greatly surpassing the most sensitive protein detection technology on the market today. For more information, please visit alamarbio.com.

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SOURCE Alamar Biosciences, Inc.