The NIH Center for Human Immunology, Inflammation, and Autoimmunity (CHI) is a Trans-NIH initiative whose mission is to provide a collaborative resource to enable high-dimensional multiplex immune phenotyping for NIH clinical studies. This is accomplished through a focused team for scientific input, advanced technologies, and informatics support to better understand human immune function and pathophysiology.
Contact Details
CHI Communications Manager: Rachel Tracy
Email: rachel.tracy@nih.gov
Address: 10 Center Drive, Room 7N116, Bethesda, MD 20892
List of Services
The CHI offers the following technology as a fee-for-service product:
SomaScan assay – The SomaScan® Assay is enabled by the generation of protein-capture reagents called SOMAmer® (Slow Off-rate Modified Aptamer) reagents. This proteomics assay measures approximately 7,000 protein analytes from a small volume of sample with high sensitivity and specificity.
Established Technologies
Sequencing based technologies – CITE-seq and ASAP-seq to profile both hundreds of proteins and the transcriptome or chromatin accessibility in the same single cells using 10×.
High-dimensional cytometry – Spectral flow phenotyping with 30-40c panels for PBMC, T cell subsets, and specific tissues; and stimulation assays to simultaneously assess 8 phospho-pathways in 20 cell populations.
Aptamer based proteomics – SomaLogic run in house to assay 7,000 protein analytes in peripheral blood serum, plasma, and potentially other sample types.
Equipment
Major equipment currently maintained at NIH CHI that are available for collaborative scientific studies:
- 10x Genomics Chromium X – Single cell sequencing library preparation
- Qiasymphony and BioMek – Automated sequencing library preparation
- Illumina NextSeq 2000 – Next Generation Sequencing
- Cytek Aurora and BD FACSymphony – High parameter flow cytometry
- Sony SH800S flow cytometer – Cell sorting
- Fluidigm Helios – Mass cytometry
- Tecan Fluent 780* – Automated SomaLogic proteomics
*Available as a fee-for-service product as well as for collaborative studies
User Guidelines
The CHI operates in three modes: collaborative scientific studies, scientific technology development, and fee-for-service (FFS). Collaborative studies aim to integrate several of CHI’s technologies for comprehensive phenotyping and include substantial contributions by CHI to study design, data analysis and funding. Collaborative studies will be selected competitively from a call for proposal which is announced multiple times per year. Scientific study proposals can also be selected as a technology development project if the aims of the proposal don\’t match the criteria to be selected as a collaborative scientific study. Alternatively, a subset of the technologies at CHI are available to any NIH users on a FFS basis, where CHI can generate data for a fee to cover costs, but study design and data analysis are the responsibility of the customer.