The EQAPOL Luminex proficiency program was initiated as a collaboration between NIAID and the Cancer Immunotherapy Consortium (CIC). The EQAPOL Luminex EQA program assesses the proficiency of NIAID/DAIDS-supported and other interested research laboratories at performing an bead-based Luminex assay. Proficiency is assessed with the goal of helping all participating laboratories to perform the assay. Participating laboratories are required to complete two External Proficiency (EP) rounds per year.
For each EP round, Luminex program participants receive a de-identified custom 5-plex Luminex-bead assay kit (blinded to the reagent manufacturer), which includes all necessary reagents to run the assay, from a vendor selected by CIC/NIAID. In addition to these kits, sites will receive 21 test samples containing known amounts of the five cytokines measured by the assay in a human AB serum matrix.
Sites are required to run the EQAPOL-provided Luminex assay and report both site-reported observed concentrations (pg/mL) of each samples, and raw MFI data. Statistical assessment, troubleshooting, final report and discussion of results occur between participating laboratories and EQAPOL/NIAID. For each EP, sites are provided with a site-specific report. Participating laboratories are blinded with a unique EQAPOL site ID, and each laboratory is unblinded with respect to only their data sets.
The EQAPOL Luminex Proficiency Testing Program is accredited to the International Organization for Standardization/ International Electrotechnical Commission (ISO/IEC) 17043:2010 standards by the American Association for Laboratory Accreditation (A2LA).
A2LA Cert 3614.01
Luminex Site-specific reports are available on the EQAPOL web-based system (https://eqapolapp.dhvi.duke.edu).