Geert van den Bogaart | Full Professor
University of Groningen

BioTechX EU Day 2 @ 16:50

A novel technique for sensitive detection of disease-specific T cells

Current T-cell diagnostics predominantly rely on cytokine release assays, which may exhibit reduced sensitivity in immunocompromised patients due to impaired effector T-cell function. To address this limitation, we developed ProliSpot, a novel immune-monitoring platform that measures antigen-specific T-cell proliferation at the single-cell level using fluorescence imaging and automated analysis.ProliSpot combines the biological sensitivity of proliferation-based assays with the scalability and standardization required for routine clinical diagnostics. Following antigen stimulation, proliferating T cells are quantified through automated image acquisition and analysis, providing a direct measure of antigen-specific cellular immunity. The platform has been developed as a user-friendly kit format and is currently being translated towards an IVDR-compliant diagnostic workflow.As a first clinical application, we developed ProliSpot-TB for the detection of latent tuberculosis infection (TBI). Preliminary studies indicate that ProliSpot-TB detects TB-specific immune responses in a higher proportion of immunocompromised individuals than conventional interferon-gamma release assays (IGRAs), addressing a major unmet need in tuberculosis prevention. Beyond tuberculosis, the ProliSpot platform has potential applications in infectious diseases, vaccine evaluation, immune monitoring, and personalized medicine. This presentation will describe the technology, automation strategy, clinical validation pathway, and opportunities for broader implementation of proliferation-based immune diagnostics.

Geert van den Bogaart, Full Professor, University of Groningen

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Geert van den Bogaart / A novel technique for sensitive detection of disease-specific T cells

Geert van den Bogaart, Full Professor,
University of Groningen

Prof. Dr. Geert van den Bogaart is a Full Professor at the University of Groningen and the University Medical Center Groningen, where he leads the Department of Molecular Immunology. His research bridges fundamental biology and pharmaceutical innovation, with a strong focus on translating insights...

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