Dried Blood Spots (DBS)

Dried blood has been used as a sample material for in vitro diagnostic analysis since the mid 1960s, especially in newborn screening and, over the past decades, has become a standard in this field. Moreover, dried blood is applied in drug screenings, doping controls and in therapeutic drug monitoring. It is also more and more used in antibody and antigen diagnostics. Dried capillary blood samples are an excellent alternative to venous blood samples and can be analysed subsequently in the lab, e.g. for antibodies against SARS-CoV-2.

• Simple handling: Capillary blood is collected by a prick in the finger, dropped onto a blood collection card and air-dried.
• Minimally invasive method, a simple alternative to venous blood sampling
• Reduction / elimination of biological risks: According to the US Department of Transportation (DOT), the International Air Transporter Association (IATA) and the World Health Organisation (WHO), dried blood samples are exempt medical samples that can be sent by mail with the packaging materials included in the product.
• Shipping is possible without any additional cooling. High stability demonstrated for a large number of analytes
• Quantification possible: punches with a defined diameter allow exact determination of the collected blood volume
• Complete automation of all process steps possible
• Application of DBS samples validated in combination with the ELISAs for the detection of IgG antibodies against SARS-CoV-2