Dried Blood Spot or VAMS: Choosing a Microsampling Format

Volumetric absorptive microsampling fixes the volume half of the hematocrit problem, not the recovery half. What the published validation data shows, and how to choose between a card and a VAMS tip.

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What Patient Centric Sampling Actually Means, and When It Fits Your Program

Patient centric sampling is a design requirement, not a device category. Here is what the term actually covers, the three questions that decide whether it fits your program, and when a collection kit is the wrong answer.

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CMYK or Pantone: A Plain Guide to Color and Ink Count in Packaging

What process and spot color actually do, what one, two, three, and four color printing mean on a quote, and how substrate and coating change the printed result.

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Choosing Box Material for a Collection Kit: E-Flute, SBS, and Chipboard

What E flute, SBS, and chipboard actually do, the four packaging tiers from stock box to rigid setup box, and how to decide without wasting tooling money.

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Capillary Collection or Venipuncture: How to Choose for an At-Home Program

How to choose between venipuncture and self collection blood devices, by mechanism, sample volume, matrix validation, hemolysis sensitivity, and completion rate.

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How to Choose a Preservation Medium for an At-Home Collection Kit

A decision framework for choosing preservation media: what the assay needs, what the sample must survive in transit, fill volume, extraction compatibility, and consumer handling.

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From Prototype to Shelf: Building a Kit Around a Collection Device That Does Not Fit a Tube

What it takes to turn a novel collection format into a shippable kit: transfer path design, media selection, two way sample testing, document control, and two pilots.

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Why Stock Stabilization Media Does Not Fit Your Assay

Stabilization media are sold in the volumes and tubes that suit a supplier’s packaging line, not your assay. The four problems that creates, what custom formulation and aliquoting actually involves, what you need to specify, and what it does not change.

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Michael Brown
September 4, 2026September 4, 2026
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Vendor Selection, Kit Design and Manufacturing

Contract Manufacturer vs 3PL vs Fulfillment Vendor: What the Difference Costs You

A 3PL moves your kits. A fulfillment vendor packs them. A contract manufacturer builds them under a quality system and creates the record you will need during an investigation. Where the line sits, and the six questions that reveal which one you are actually talking to.

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