Dr. Tom G. Ewart Profile

Dr. Tom G. Ewart

Director of Proteomics

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Publications (3)

Proceedings Article | 13 July 2009 Paper

Multiplex infectious disease microarrays: STAT serology on a drop of blood

Tom Ewart, Mark Tarnopolsky, Steve Baker, Sandeep Raha, Yuen-Yee Wong, Kathy Ciebiera

Proceedings Volume 7380, 73806E (2009) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.822905

KEYWORDS: Artificial intelligence, Pathogens, Calibration, Proteins, Viruses, Diagnostics, Blood, Chemical vapor deposition, Composites, Printing

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Proceedings Article | 8 September 2006 Paper

Imaging combined autoimmune and infectious disease microarrays

Tom Ewart, Sandeep Raha, Dorothy Kus, Mark Tarnopolsky

Proceedings Volume 6343, 63430H (2006) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.707494

KEYWORDS: Pathogens, Diagnostics, Single sideband modulation, Proteins, Point-of-care devices, Charge-coupled devices, Stomach, Cancer, Heart, Imaging systems

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Bacterial and viral pathogens are implicated in many severe autoimmune diseases, acting through such mechanisms as molecular mimicry, and superantigen activation of T-cells. For example, Helicobacter pylori, well known cause of stomach ulcers and cancers, is also identified in ischaemic heart disease (mimicry of heat shock protein 65), autoimmune pancreatitis, systemic sclerosis, autoimmune thyroiditis (HLA DRB1*0301 allele susceptibility), and Crohn's disease. Successful antibiotic eradication of H.pylori often accompanies their remission. Yet current diagnostic devices, and test-limiting cost containment, impede recognition of the linkage, delaying both diagnosis and therapeutic intervention until the chronic debilitating stage. We designed a 15 minute low cost 39 antigen microarray assay, combining autoimmune, viral and bacterial antigens¹. This enables point-of-care serodiagnosis and cost-effective narrowly targeted concurrent antibiotic and monoclonal anti-T-cell and anti-cytokine immunotherapy. Arrays of 26 pathogen and 13 autoimmune antigens with IgG and IgM dilution series were printed in triplicate on epoxysilane covalent binding slides with Teflon well masks. Sera diluted 1:20 were incubated 10 minutes, washed off, anti-IgG-Cy3 (green) and anti-IgM-Dy647 (red) were incubated for 5 minutes, washed off and the slide was read in an ArrayWoRx(e) scanning CCD imager (Applied Precision, Issaquah, WA). As a preliminary model for the combined infectious disease-autoimmune diagnostic microarray we surveyed 98 unidentified, outdated sera that were discarded after Hepatitis B antibody testing. In these, significant IgG or IgM autoantibody levels were found: dsDNA 5, ssDNA 11, Ro 2, RNP 7, SSB 4, gliadin 2, thyroglobulin 13 cases. Since control sera showed no autoantibodies, the high frequency of anti-DNA and anti-thyroglobulin antibodies found in infected sera lend increased support for linkage of infection to subsequent autoimmune disease. Expansion of the antigen set with synthetic peptide sequences should reveal the shared bacterial/human epitopes involved.

Proceedings Article | 13 October 2005 Paper

High quality epoxysilane substrate for clinical multiplex serodiagnostic proteomic microarrays

Tom Ewart, Stuart Carmichael, Peter Lea

Proceedings Volume 5969, 59690I (2005) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.630011

KEYWORDS: Acquisition tracking and pointing, Luminescence, Printing, Glasses, Molecules, Bioalcohols, Calibration, Proteins, Chemistry, Diagnostics

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Polylysine and aminopropylsilane treated glass comprised the majority of substrates employed in first generation genetic microarray substrates. Second generation single stranded long oligo libraries with amino termini provided for controlled terminal specific attachment, and rationally designed unique sequence libraries with normalized melting temperatures. These libraries benefit from active covalent coupling surfaces such as Epoxysilane. The latter's oxime ring shows versatile reactivity with amino-, thiol- and hydroxyl- groups thus encompassing small molecule, oligo and proteomic microarray applications. Batch-to-batch production uniformity supports entry of the Epoxysilane process into clinical diagnostics. We carried out multiple print runs of 21 clinically relevant bacterial and viral antigens at optimized concentrations, plus human IgG and IgM standards in triplicate on multiple batches of Epoxysilane substrates. A set of 45 patient sera were assayed in a 35 minute protocol using 10 microliters per array in a capillary-fill format (15 minute serum incubation, wash, 15 minute incubation with Cy3-labeled anti-hIgG plus Dy647-labeled anti-hIgM, final wash). The LOD (3 SD above background) was better than 1 microgram/ml for IgG, and standard curves were regular and monotonically increasing over the range 0 to 1000 micrograms/ml. Ninety-five percent of the CVs for the standards were under 10%, and 90% percent of CVs for antigen responses were under 10% across all batches of Epoxysilane and print runs. In addition, where SDs are larger than expected, microarray images may be readily reviewed for quality control purposes and pin misprints quickly identified. In order to determine the influence of stirring on sensitivity and speed of the microarray assay, we printed 10 common ToRCH antigens (H. pylori, T. gondii, Rubella, Rubeola, C. trachomatis, Herpes 1 and 2, CMV, C. jejuni, and EBV) in Epoxysilane-activated slide-wells. Anti-IgG-Cy3 direct binding to printed IgG calibration spots could be detected (3 x LOD) above background at 100 pg/ml (0.13 femtomoles sample content) in a 10 minute incubation. The LOD for detection of serum anti-H. pylori antibody level was 9 ng/ml in the same incubation time.

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