Promega UK Launches Lumit ® Insulin Immunoassay

Promega US has launched the Lumit^® Insulin Immunoassay, a homogeneous assay for quantitative measurement of insulin from cell culture and islet secretion samples. The assay combines fast kinetics with picomolar-level sensitivity, offering a limit of detection of 10 picomolar and a linear range of 10 picomolar to 8 nanomolar. Validated in both 96- and 384-well microplate formats, it delivers excellent linearity and a robust signal-to-background ratio exceeding 200, allowing researchers to generate high-quality data with minimal handling.

The assay uses Lumit^® technology, which relies on labeled primary antibodies that, in the presence of insulin, form a fully functional NanoBiT^® luciferase enzyme. The addition of substrate produces a luminescent signal proportional to insulin levels, eliminating the need for fixation, dissociation, or wash steps. Results are available in just 70 minutes, making the assay particularly well-suited to perifusion experiments and high-throughput screening applications where sample numbers are large.

Insulin secretion measurement is central to metabolic disease research, from GLP-1 receptor agonist potency testing to beta cell function assessment. Current methods are laborious and time-consuming, often requiring extended assay windows and multiple handling steps. Our new Lumit Insulin Immunoassay addresses this directly – it tracks insulin in a simple add-mix-read format that delivers results faster and with greater confidence, helping researchers accelerate drug discovery and get more actionable data."

Darren Heywood, Senior Product Manager, Promega US

Researchers at Imperial College London, led by Dr Ben Jones, Faculty of Medicine, Department of Metabolism, Digestion and Reproduction, used the Lumit Insulin Immunoassay to differentiate the potency and activity of three GLP-1 receptor agonist drug candidates. It achieved comparable results to an established Insulin HTRF assay, but with a faster one-hour protocol, compared to four hours, and a broader linear range.

The Lumit^® Insulin Immunoassay joins Promega's expanding range of metabolic disease solutions, complementing the Lumit^® Glucagon Immunoassay and integrated cell health assays including CellTiter-Glo^® Luminescent Cell Viability Assay and Caspase-Glo^® 3/7 Assay, providing researchers with a comprehensive toolkit for metabolic disease research.

The Lumit ^® Insulin Immunoassay is available now from Promega US in two kit sizes: W8010 (100 assays in 96-well format or 400 in 384-well format) and W8012 (500 assays in 96-well format or 2,000 in 384-well format).