NULISAseq™ Inflammation Panel 250 vs NULISAseq™ Inflammation Panel AQ: What’s the Difference?

Alamar Biosciences’ NULISA™ platform offers two closely related, high-plex inflammation panels: the NULISAseq™ Inflammation Panel 250 and the NULISAseq™ Inflammation Panel AQ. Both panels are built on the same ultra-sensitive NULISA chemistry and run on the ARGO® HT System, and both give researchers exceptional coverage of the inflammatory proteome. The key difference lies in how the data is quantified, and this has a significant impact on which studies each panel is best suited to.

In this blog, we compare the NULISAseq™ Inflammation Panel 250 and the NULISAseq™ Inflammation Panel AQ to help you choose the right assay for your study design.

The Key Difference: Relative vs Absolute Quantification

Both panels measure the same core set of inflammation-related biomarkers, but they report results differently:

• NULISAseq™ Inflammation Panel 250 reports relative quantification (RQ) across 250 targets, expressed as NULISA Protein Quantification (NPQ) units. This makes it ideal for comparing protein abundance between samples, groups, or timepoints within a study.
• NULISAseq™ Inflammation Panel AQ reports absolute quantification (AQ) in standard mass concentration units (pg/mL) for over 150 of those biomarkers, alongside relative values for the full panel of 250+ targets. This means results can be compared across different studies, cohorts, and even other platforms.

NULISAseq™ Inflammation Panel 250

The Inflammation Panel 250 provides the broadest, most comprehensive coverage of the inflammatory proteome available on the NULISA platform, targeting 250 cytokines, chemokines, and other immune and inflammation-related proteins, including many low-abundance targets that fall below the detection limits of conventional immunoassays.

Best suited to:

• Exploratory biomarker discovery, where the goal is to identify differentially abundant proteins between groups
• Studies comparing disease cohorts against healthy controls
• Research into autoimmune and inflammatory conditions such as rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, Sjögren’s syndrome, and inflammatory bowel disease
• Neuroinflammatory and immuno-oncology profiling
• Studies where relative changes within a single dataset are the primary readout

Key performance characteristics:

• Broadest available coverage of low-abundance cytokines and chemokines
• High sensitivity, with the majority of targets detectable in the large majority of plasma samples
• High reproducibility, with median intra- and inter-plate CV of under 15%
• Minimal sample input requirements, suited to precious or limited biofluid samples

NULISAseq™ Inflammation Panel AQ

The Inflammation Panel AQ builds on the same 250-target inflammation panel but adds a proprietary absolute quantification algorithm, generating precise pg/mL concentration values for more than 150 key biomarkers from a single calibrator sample, without the need for full multi-point standard curves for every analyte.

Best suited to:

• Longitudinal studies tracking the same biomarkers over time or across multiple study visits
• Translational and clinical research requiring biomarker validation or disease stratification
• Pharmacokinetic, pharmacodynamic, and toxicology studies
• Monitoring treatment response in clinical cohorts
• Studies that need to be directly compared against external datasets, published literature, or other quantitative platforms

Key performance characteristics:

• Absolute quantification for 150+ analytes in pg/mL, alongside relative data for the full 250+ target panel
• Wide dynamic range, spanning up to 9 logs across all targets
• High precision, with low intra- and inter-plate CV across AQ targets
• High detectability and quantifiability across healthy and disease sample cohorts

Choosing Between the Two Panels

Consideration	Inflammation Panel 250	Inflammation Panel AQ
Quantification type	Relative (NPQ)	Absolute (pg/mL) for 150+ targets, plus relative data across the full panel
Number of targets	250	250+, with absolute values for 150+
Best for	Discovery and within-study comparisons	Cross-study, longitudinal, and translational comparisons
Typical applications	Biomarker discovery, cohort comparisons	Biomarker validation, PK/PD studies, treatment monitoring
Comparability across studies	Limited to the dataset generated	Directly comparable across studies and platforms

If your priority is casting the widest possible net to discover which inflammatory proteins differ between groups, the Inflammation Panel 250 is the natural starting point. If your study requires concentration values that can be tracked over time, benchmarked against other cohorts, or compared with historical or external data, the Inflammation Panel AQ is the more appropriate choice.

Many research programmes use both: starting with the Inflammation Panel 250 for discovery, then following up with the Inflammation Panel AQ to validate and quantify the most promising candidate biomarkers.

Why Choose Source Genomics for NULISAseq™ Proteomics

As a certified provider of Alamar Biosciences’ NULISA™ platform, Source Genomics delivers validated, high-sensitivity proteomic workflows aligned with the manufacturer’s standards, including:

• Expert guidance on panel and study design
• Fully automated NULISA workflows on the ARGO® HT System
• High reproducibility and low CVs across runs
• Support from sample submission through to data delivery

Contact us today to discuss your study design and find out which NULISAseq™ Inflammation Panel is right for your research.