Summary:
A new peer-reviewed study validates Vibrant Sciences’ customizable protein microarray, enabling fast, accurate, and scalable detection of over 17 tickborne and related pathogens from a single sample.

Takeaways:

  1. Comprehensive Detection: The platform identifies bacterial, viral, and parasitic pathogens—including Lyme disease and co-infections—with high sensitivity and specificity.
  2. Improved Patient Care: It reduces testing delays and missed diagnoses by delivering full antibody profiles from one low-volume blood sample.
  3. Global Readiness: Designed for scalability and future pathogen inclusion, the system supports international testing needs and evolving infectious threats.

A new study published in Nature Scientific Reports validates the performance of a customizable multiplex protein microarray developed by Vibrant Sciences, the research arm of lab testing company Vibrant Wellness. The peer-reviewed findings confirm that the platform enables highly sensitive, simultaneous antibody detection for over 17 tickborne and related pathogens, offering a faster, more comprehensive approach to infectious disease testing.

“We designed this platform to bring scale, speed, and precision to infectious disease testing. Its high-throughput microarray format can detect dozens of pathogens at once, including bacteria, viruses, and parasites, using a single sample,” says Vasanth Jayaraman, chief operating officer at Vibrant. “This kind of clarity is critical for patients whose symptoms don’t fit one diagnosis, and whose answers have been long delayed.”

The platform supports IgG and IgM testing for Borrelia (Lyme disease) and numerous co-infections, including Babesia, Bartonella, Anaplasma, and Epstein-Barr Virus, among others.

The study included serum samples from over a dozen international collaborators across North America, Europe, and the Middle East, underscoring the platform’s ability to support global testing needs. Its design allows for future expansion to cover emerging pathogens such as tularemia, relapsing fever, Rickettsia parkeri, and Heartland virus.

Study Highlights

  • Detects bacterial, viral, and parasitic pathogens in a single test
  • High IgG and IgM sensitivity and specificity, including 100% sensitivity for Powassan virus and 99-100% specificity across pathogens
  • Delivers comprehensive results from a single, low-volume blood sample, minimizing patient burden and simplifying lab processing
  • Fully automated and scalable for epidemiologic research and routine care

The approach captures both current and past infections, making it valuable for identifying co-infections or immune responses that might not be detectable through direct pathogen testing alone.

Why It Matters

Standard Lyme testing involves multi-step protocols that miss co-infections or delay care. Vibrant’s platform delivers more insights in a single test, reducing cost, turnaround time, and uncertainty.

The platform was validated against gold-standard methods and showed:

  • 100% combined IgG/IgM sensitivity for Borrelia, Babesia, and Bartonella
  • Accurate detection of tickborne encephalitis, West Nile virus, and HHV-6
  • Improved IgM sensitivity using a proprietary antibody isolation method

As tickborne infections rise globally, accurate, efficient, and scalable testing is critical. This platform provides the foundation for diagnosing current infections and adapting to tomorrow’s pathogens.

Medical providers can order the Tickborne Disease Panel and other advanced specialty tests through vibrant-wellness.com. All testing is performed at Vibrant’s CLIA-certified and CAP-accredited laboratory and is available to providers throughout North America and Europe.

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