Is this the end of dried blood spots as we know it?

In 2017 integrated sampling and sample preparation for simplified liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry analysis of proteins from dried blood spots were introduced. The concept, called smart samplers or smart sampling, enables proteolysis or affinity clean-up, two common sample preparation steps in liquid chromatography-mass spectrometric bioanalysis of proteins, to start at the moment of sampling. The idea is to utilize the time for sampling and drying to perform these time-consuming and labour-intensive steps. Hence, only a simplified sample preparation is necessary after the arrival of the sample in the lab. In this perspective, we present an overview of the smart sampling approach where the conventional protein analysis workflow is reshuffled to start already prior to arrival in the lab. In addition, we present a thorough discussion of integrating sample preparation steps such as proteolysis or affinity capture in the sampling. Finally, in the end, we try to answer the question if conventional dried blood spots will become obsolete in the future.