About Us
Mission: To develop improved serological diagnostic testing platforms for Valley Fever (VF).
Motto: From Discovery to Action
Our Company
Background:
Current VF immunodiagnostics utilize complex fungal extracts for a source of antigens for assays. Biological variation in antigen preparations and differences between commercial companies cause inconsistencies in reported results, leading to reduced sensitivity and specificity of commercial immunoassays.
Our central hypothesis is that if we developed a recombinant protein-based serological assay, we could improve the diagnostic armamentarium. To identify these target proteins, we embarked on a discovery of new seroreactive antigens funded by NIH…. 1R01AI155954: Serological Biomarkers for Coccidioidomycosis. This was followed up by a study funded by the Arizona Biomedical Research Center… RFGA2024-022-026: Improving Serological Diagnostics for Valley Fever
Disease:
Valley Fever (VF) or Coccidioidomycosis is disease caused by a dimorphic fungus in the Coccidioides genus. There are two species Coccidioides immitis and Coccidioides posadasii, but the genomes are highly similar, and immune responses are predicted to be cross-protective between these agents. The disease has protean manifestations in humans. It is estimated that about 60% of the exposed humans have subclinical infection and never manifest symptomatology. About 30-35% of the cases are limited to pulmonary symptoms ranging from cold/flu-like symptoms to frank pneumonia. From 1-5% of the cases are severe and disseminate from the pulmonary system to the brain, bone, or skin requiring significant medical intervention. Serology is used to aid in primary diagnosis and for monitoring disease progression, but current commercial serological assays utilize complex fungal extracts as a source of antigens. There are problems with consistency of batch-batch antigenic variation in these complex fungal extracts. The sensitivity and specificity of these current commercial assays could be improved, overall improving diagnostics.
Team
Founded by a multi-disciplinary team of researchers—D. Mitchell Magee, F. Douglas Lake, Megan Koehler, Lusheng Song, Jay Park, Vel Murugan, and Joshua LaBaer—our group brings together decades of specialized research in Valley Fever and pioneering protein array technologies.
Co-founders Doug Lake and Mitch Magee have dedicated more than 25 years to studying Valley Fever (VF). After joining Arizona State University (ASU) in the mid-2000s, they formalized their partnership as Co-PIs in 2020 to launch a dedicated VF antigenic discovery program.
The technological core of the team began taking shape when Joshua LaBaer joined ASU’s Biodesign Institute in 2009. Bringing with him the Nucleic Acid Programmable Protein Array (NAPPA) platform he invented at Harvard, Josh recruited Mitch Magee, Jay Park, and Vel Murugan between 2009 and 2011. Together, they developed second-generation High-Density NAPPA (HD-NAPPA) to identify key serological proteins in microbial pathogens. Lusheng Song joined in 2017 to advance HD-NAPPA’s capabilities, and in 2023, Megan Koehler joined Doug’s lab, collaborating across teams to apply HD-NAPPA specifically toward VF fungus antigen discovery.
Beyond foundational discovery, the team has proven its ability to execute at scale. In 2020, under the leadership of Vel Murugan and Joshua LaBaer, they established the ASU Biodesign Clinical Testing Laboratory (ABCTL). ABCTL became one of the largest university-based, CLIA-certified, and CAP-accredited clinical labs in the U.S., processing over 1.5 million tests.
Today, the team continues to push boundaries with their third-generation technology: Multiplex In Solution Protein Array (MISPA), designed to validate serologically reactive proteins discovered through NAPPA.
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