Emory Researchers Identify Blood Protein Signature That Detects ALS With 98% Accuracy Using Alamar Technology

Independent validation compared the protein signature with a single blood biomarker, which achieved 89.9% balanced accuracy.

Rhea-AI Summary

Alamar Biosciences (ALMR) announced Emory researchers identified a blood-protein signature that distinguished ALS patients from healthy controls with 98.3% balanced accuracy.

Published in Nature Communications, the study used Alamar’s NULISA technology to develop a 10-protein signature from 632 ALS patients and 160 healthy controls. Independent validation in 144 ALS patients and 37 controls showed 98.3% balanced accuracy versus 89.9% for neurofilament light chain alone, an established marker of nerve-fiber damage. The signature also identified some patients missed by that marker, including patients with relatively little disability. It remains a research finding, not a clinically validated screening or diagnostic test.

Positive

• Minor pointNULISA-based 10-protein signature achieved 98.3% balanced accuracy versus 89.9% for neurofilament light chain in independent validation.
• Minor pointMulti-protein model identified some ALS patients missed by neurofilament light chain, including those with relatively little disability.
• Minor pointFOLR1 helped classify people without ALS whose neurofilament light chain levels were elevated, reducing false positives.
• Minor point. Forward-looking: it has not happened yet and may not happen.Emory researchers plan to test the signature in larger and more diverse patient groups.

Negative

• Minor pointProtein signature remains a research finding, not a clinically validated screening or diagnostic test.

Key Figures

Proteins in signature: 10 proteins Initial profiling cohort: 632 ALS patients; 160 healthy controls Validation cohort: 144 ALS patients; 37 controls +4 more

Proteins in signature

10 proteins

ALS blood signature

Initial profiling cohort

632 ALS patients; 160 healthy controls

Plasma samples profiled

Validation cohort

144 ALS patients; 37 controls

Separate cohort

Balanced accuracy

98.3%

10-protein signature in the validation cohort

AUC

0.992

10-protein signature in the validation cohort

Balanced accuracy

89.9%

Neurofilament light chain alone in the validation cohort

AUC

0.916

Neurofilament light chain alone in the validation cohort

Key Terms

amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, balanced accuracy, neurofilament light chain, phosphorylated tau

4 terms

amyotrophic lateral sclerosis medical

"patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS)"

A progressive disease in which nerve cells that control voluntary muscles gradually fail, leading to loss of movement, speech and eventually breathing — like an electrical wiring system in the body slowly shorting out. It matters to investors because there are few effective treatments, so clinical trial results, regulatory approvals, new therapies or diagnostics can rapidly change patient care, market opportunity and company valuations.

balanced accuracy technical

"achieved 98.3% balanced accuracy"

Balanced accuracy is a performance metric for classification models that averages the true positive rate (sensitivity) and the true negative rate (specificity), i.e., (sensitivity + specificity) / 2. It corrects for class imbalance by giving equal weight to each class’s recall rather than to the raw number of correct predictions, and for multiclass problems it is commonly computed as the average of per-class recalls. It does not measure probability calibration or the costs of different error types and can be computed differently in some libraries, so check the specific implementation when comparing values.

neurofilament light chain medical

"for neurofilament light chain (NFL) alone"

Neurofilament light chain is a protein released into cerebrospinal fluid and blood when nerve cells are damaged, acting like a measurable “leak” that signals injury to the brain or spinal cord. For investors, it matters because rising or falling levels can serve as an objective readout in clinical trials and disease monitoring, helping assess whether a drug or therapy is slowing nerve damage and reducing development or commercial risk.

phosphorylated tau medical

"like neurofilament and phosphorylated tau"

Tau is a brain protein that stabilizes microtubules inside neurons; phosphorylated tau is tau that has one or more phosphate chemical groups attached to specific amino acids. Phosphorylation is a normal cellular modification, but abnormal patterns or excess phosphorylation cause tau to change shape, detach from microtubules and aggregate into insoluble filaments (neurofibrillary tangles) that are characteristic of Alzheimer’s disease and other tauopathies. Measured in cerebrospinal fluid or blood as a biomarker, levels and specific phosphorylation sites help distinguish normal biology from disease-related tau pathology.

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Published in Nature Communications, the study found a 10-protein signature that outperformed a leading individual ALS biomarker, including in some patients with difficult-to-diagnose presentations

Fremont, Calif., Oct. 28, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Alamar Biosciences, Inc. (Nasdaq: ALMR), a leader in precision proteomics dedicated to enabling the earliest detection of disease, today announced researchers at Emory University have identified a 10-protein blood signature that distinguished patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) from healthy controls with 98.3% balanced accuracy in an independent validation cohort. The study, published in Nature Communications, used Alamar Biosciences’ NULISA™ technology to measure more than 300 neurological and inflammatory proteins in each blood sample.

ALS can be difficult to diagnose, particularly early in the disease or when symptoms resemble those of other neurological conditions. Researchers are investigating whether blood-based biomarkers could eventually help clinicians identify patients who need specialist evaluation sooner. The newly reported signature remains a research finding, not a clinically validated screening or diagnostic test.

“We saw the proteins we expected, like neurofilament and phosphorylated tau, but we also found differences in proteins that hadn’t been linked to ALS in blood before,” said Eleanor Varian Thomas, MD, assistant professor at Emory University School of Medicine. “The combination of established and new biomarkers into a single protein signature, identified ALS far more accurately than neurofilament alone. Several of these new proteins may also tell us something about ALS biology itself, which we plan to explore as we test the protein signature in larger and more diverse patient groups.”

"ALS patients and their families often wait far too long for answers," said Yuling Luo, PhD, founder, CEO and chair of Alamar Biosciences. "We built NULISA to measure low-abundance proteins in blood that other technologies struggle to see, and to measure many of them at once. This study shows why that matters. By profiling brain-derived and inflammatory proteins together, the Emory team identified a multi-protein signature that outperformed single marker testing.

The Emory University Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases and Emory ALS Center researchers initially profiled plasma from 632 ALS patients and 160 healthy controls using NULISAseq™ CNS and Inflammation panels. They developed a 10-protein signature and evaluated it in a separate validation cohort of 144 ALS patients and 37 controls.

In that validation cohort, the 10-protein signature achieved 98.3% balanced accuracy (AUC 0.992), compared with 89.9% (AUC 0.916) for neurofilament light chain (NFL) alone, an established blood biomarker of axonal damage. The model also identified some ALS patients missed by NFL alone, including patients with relatively little disability, a group that can present diagnostic challenges.

The protein signature combines the established neurofilament markers NFL and NEFH with pTau-181 and VEGFA, which have prior links to ALS, and six proteins not previously reported as ALS blood biomarkers: CALCA, NRGN, PTX3, TREM1, FOLR1 and LAMP3. Some of these proteins help the signature identify people who do not have ALS, which is important for distinguishing ALS from other conditions. One protein, FOLR1, was especially useful in correctly classifying people without ALS whose NFL levels were elevated, which reduced false positive results compared with NFL alone. Its performance illustrates the potential value of measuring multiple neurological and inflammatory proteins together rather than relying on one marker.

About Alamar Biosciences 
Alamar is a commercial-stage proteomics company establishing a gold standard in protein detection and analysis. Leveraging our proprietary NULISA™ technology and the ARGO® HT System, our platform is designed to detect protein biomarkers at extremely low concentrations in blood with ultra-high sensitivity, high specificity, flexible multiplexing, broad dynamic range and seamless automation. We refer to this combination of features as “Precision Proteomics,” and believe it fills a critical gap in the field of advanced proteomics, helping researchers unlock the full spectrum of protein biomarkers across disease states. Learn more at alamarbio.com. 

Forward Looking Statements 
This press release may contain forward-looking statements, including statements made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements may be identified by words such as "aims," "anticipates," "believes," "could," "estimates," "expects," "forecasts," "intends," "may," "plans," "possible," "potential," "seeks," "will" and variations of these words or similar expressions that are intended to identify forward-looking statements. Any such statements in this press release that are not statements of historical fact may be deemed to be forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements include, without limitation, statements regarding Alamar Biosciences’ ability to help enable the earliest detection of disease. Any forward-looking statements in this press release are based on Alamar Biosciences’ current expectations and involve assumptions that may never materialize or may prove to be incorrect. Readers are cautioned that actual results could differ materially from those expressed or implied in Alamar Biosciences’ forward-looking statements due to a variety of risks and uncertainties, which include, without limitation, risks and uncertainties related to intense competition in the proteomics market, exposure to legal proceedings, regulatory inquiries and other legal matters, failure to develop new assays or instruments, dependence on researchers who rely heavily on government funding, reductions in spending by research and academic institutions, the potential for products to be subject to more onerous regulation by the FDA or other regulatory requirements, the complexity of manufacturing Alamar Biosciences’ instruments and consumables, failure to obtain marketing authorizations for future products that are intended for clinical or diagnostic use, Alamar Biosciences’ ability to protect its intellectual property, and the other risks described in Alamar Biosciences’ filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, including its Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q filed with the SEC on August 11, 2026. Alamar Biosciences explicitly disclaims any obligation to update any forward-looking statements except to the extent required by law. 

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FAQ

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How accurate was the ALS protein signature developed using Alamar technology?

The 10-protein signature achieved 98.3% balanced accuracy in an independent validation cohort of 144 ALS patients and 37 controls, compared with 89.9% for neurofilament light chain alone. Its area under the receiver operating characteristic curve, another measure of discrimination, was 0.992 versus 0.916 for the single marker.

Is the ALS blood signature identified using Alamar technology a validated diagnostic test?

The signature is not a clinically validated screening or diagnostic test; it remains a research finding. Emory researchers plan to test it in larger and more diverse patient groups.

How did FOLR1 improve the ALS protein signature studied with Alamar technology?

FOLR1 helped correctly classify people without ALS whose neurofilament light chain levels were elevated. This reduced false-positive results compared with neurofilament light chain alone. FOLR1 was one of six proteins in the signature not previously reported as ALS blood biomarkers.