Automated dried blood spots standard and QC sample preparation using a robotic liquid handler
Related Experiment Video
Updated: May 16, 2026
Dried Blood Spots - Preparing and Processing for Use in Immunoassays and in Molecular Techniques
Published on: March 13, 2015
Long Yuan1, Duxi Zhang, Anne-Francoise Aubry
1Bioanalytical Sciences, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Route 206 & Province Line Road, Princeton, NJ 08543, USA. long.yuan@bms.com
Background:
A dried blood spot (DBS) bioanalysis assay involves many steps, such as the preparation of standard (STD) and QC samples in blood, the spotting onto DBS cards, and the cutting-out of the spots. These steps are labor intensive and time consuming if done manually, which, therefore, makes automation very desirable in DBS bioanalysis.
Results:
A robotic liquid handler was successfully applied to the preparation of STD and QC samples in blood and to spot the blood samples onto DBS cards using buspirone as the model compound. This automated preparation was demonstrated to be accurate and consistent. However the accuracy and precision of automated preparation were similar to those from manual preparation. The effect of spotting volume on accuracy was evaluated and a trend of increasing concentrations of buspirone with increasing spotting volumes was observed.
Conclusion:
The automated STD and QC sample preparation process significantly improved the efficiency, robustness and safety of DBS bioanalysis.
