93 Swiss beads calibration enables quantitative quality control for high-dimensional rare-cell mass cytometry in an NIH-supported clinical research workflow
Year: 2026
Type: conference-abstract
Abstract: Background Mass cytometry enables high-dimensional single-cell phenotyping across dozens of markers, but marker intensities are typically reported in relative units that are difficult to compare across acquisitions, experiments, reagent lots, instruments, and laboratories. Swiss Beads™ calibration is designed to support Quantitative Mass Cytometry by converting channel intensity into absolute ion counts and estimated antibody copy-number metrics under defined workflows. Prior and current evaluations indicate that Swiss Beads™ calibration can support cross-run immune-cell population phenotyping, epitope-density measurement, and continuous inline quality control.Methods Swiss Beads™ consist of three engineered calibration populations spanning distinct signal intensities and are analyzed alongside biological samples. During acquisition, Swiss Beads™ act as an internal reference, enabling time-resolved calibration matrices to convert measured intensities into quantitative calibration metrics. Calibration performance was evaluated using a multiplexed mass cytometry panel in a longitudinal rare-cell workflow supporting an NIH-supported clinical research program. This analysis evaluates analytical calibration and quality-control performance and does not assess clinical outcome prediction, diagnostic performance, clinical utility, or patient-level classification. Calibration and quality-control metrics were monitored longitudinally across acquisitions spanning 10 months.Results Swiss Beads™ consistently resolved three distinct calibration populations across independent measurements and maintained stable signal distributions over 10 months of longitudinal analysis. Across runs, reagent calibration response remained stable, with R 2 > 0.91 and 0.03% temporal variation under the evaluated workflow. Application of the calibration workflow in a multiplexed clinical research setting demonstrated percentage-of-parent CVs ≤5% across PBMC reference samples. Analysis of positive and negative reference cell lines further demonstrated high reproducibility of epitope-density measurements. Under optimized conditions, i.e., near reagent saturation, relative errors were ≤4% across runs, with values as low as 0.2%. Reagent lot stability has been observed for more than 7 months, with longer-term stability studies ongoing.Conclusions Swiss Beads™ provide a quantitative calibration framework that supports conversion of mass cytometry signal from relative intensity to quantitative calibration metrics under the evaluated workflow. By enabling absolute ion-count determination, automated quality-control monitoring, and reproducible calibration across multiplexed acquisitions, Swiss Beads™ support longitudinal comparability in high-dimensional rare-cell mass cytometry. These findings support Swiss Beads™ calibration as a practical analytical QC strategy for longitudinal, high-dimensional mass cytometry workflows conducted at clinical-research scale, while broader multicentre and cross-platform validation remain ongoing.
Institution: Mayo Clinic
Language: English
Subfield: Medical Laboratory Technology
Field: Health Professions
Domain: Health Sciences
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $2,490
OpenAlex ID: W7225184943