Proficiency Panel Program
CIP is regularly organizing proficiency panels for commonly used T cell immunoassays. One main aim of the proficiency panel testing is to provide immediate feed-back to all participants about their performance relative to the other group members (External Validation / Quality assurance). In addition, each panel phase compares individual protocols and aims at identifying distinct critical variables that are predictive for high/low performance in the assays used in order to improve the sensitivity of the tests (Test optimization). Assay-specific recommendations are then formulated in order to define guidelines (Harmonization).CIP has so far organized and completed 7 proficiency panel phases (3x IFN-γ ELISPOT), (3x HLA-peptide multimers, 1x Intracellular Cytokine Staining). All panels are designed, prepared and organized by the managing committee with the help of panel co-organizers which are expert members of the CIP group. A list summarizing all proficiency panel phases that have been conducted so far can be downloaded.
The reports for all completed proficiency panels are available upon request. All results of testing phases will be published in peer-reviewed journals and guidelines are freely available on the association´s homepage.
The members of the CIP meet once a year during the CIMT meeting in order to discuss results from the conducted panels, learn more about new developments in the field, address priorities for upcoming panels and recruit participants for new panel phases. The group is open to all laboratories that have a focus on the monitoring of antigen-specific T-cell responses.
