Sample handling

Increase efficiency and safety in sample processing

Reliable sample handling is the basis for precise analysis results in the laboratory. By minimising sources of error during sample transport, labelling, allocation, sample processing storage and sample handling is an important part of the analytical workflow.

With our state-of-the-art laboratory equipment, you can optimise your sample handling workflow and ensure correct analysis results - providing fast treatment and increased patient satisfaction. From sample collection to recovery, SARSTEDT offers you innovative solutions to optimise, standardise and automate your sample handling workflow. Discover the product portfolio of SARSTEDT - the specialist for medical and scientific solutions - Discover all the essential information you need regarding sample handling right here!

Overview of Sample Handling 

Reliable sample handling is essential for outstanding laboratory quality. This includes product quality that is specifically adapted and certified for the application, ensuring reproducible results, secure sample preparation, and automated laboratory processes – from sample collection to storage. Our devices and consumables guarantee correct handling, storage, and processing of samples in the laboratory. This way you can ensure precision, repeatability, contamination-free analysis, and complete safety in sample handling.

Overview of Sample Handling 

Reliable sample handling is essential for outstanding laboratory quality. This includes product quality that is specifically adapted and certified for the application, ensuring reproducible results, secure sample preparation, and automated laboratory processes – from sample collection to storage. Our devices and consumables guarantee correct handling, storage, and processing of samples in the laboratory. This way you can ensure precision, repeatability, contamination-free analysis, and complete safety in sample handling.

We Do Not Compromise on Quality

The efficiency, precision, and care you apply in sample handling directly affect the integrity of the samples and reliable analysis results and diagnoses. Therefore, we place the highest importance on the best product quality for exact, standardised sample handling – from the direct identification of samples to analysis.

We guarantee you high-quality consumables that represent certified and tested material quality, prioritising the integrity of your samples and ease of handling. This includes versatile materials like our micro screw tubes for transport, storage, and sample preparation, special and centrifuge tubes with round, conical, and flat bottoms (with or without stand rim), universally applicable sample containers, and evaporation protection solutions like our universal plugs and evaporation protection caps.

Advantages of Sample Handling with SARSTEDT at a Glance

Correct sample handling increases the efficiency of your laboratory workflow. Here are the greatest advantages that our SARSTEDT solutions for sample handling offer you:

✓ Reliable, Reproducible Results: Minimiae the risk of sample contamination or alteration and ensure unadulterated, representative analysis results.

✓ Comprehensive Safety: Reduce risks for your laboratory teams when handling diagnostic samples for medical or scientific investigations, creating a safe, efficient working environment.

✓ Quality Assurance and Control: Enhance the quality of your processes through high-quality materials, standardised workflows, innovative devices, and automated documentation and labelling.

✓ Optimisation of Automation and Standardisation: Increase the efficiency of your processes through automated, smooth operations.

✓ Cost Efficiency through Reduced Error Susceptibility: Ensure minimal sources of errors and disruptions with intelligent systems for sample preparation, processing, and storage, increasing cost efficiency through successful, rapid investigations.

✓ Relieving Personnel through Faster Processes: Free up more personnel capacity by reducing unnecessary processes and shortening the total turnaround time even with high throughputs.

Sample Preparation: Basics and Methods

Effective sample preparation ensures maximum, precise analysis accuracy and minimises sources of error. Here are the most important basics and methods in detail:

• Sample Identification: By clearly and uniquely identifying all samples, it prevents mix-ups and can guarantee quick sorting, distribution, and analysis.

• Purity: Sensitive analyses, expensive reagents, or delicate test organisms require maximum purity of the consumables used. Only with consistently high quality can reproducible and reliable results be guaranteed. For particularly demanding applications, Sarstedt offers certified quality standards PCR Performance Tested and Biosphere® plus.

• Documentation: Comprehensive documentation is indispensable for better, legally compliant traceability, reproducibility, and comparability of results in your analysis.

• Heating or Boiling: Some sample types need to be heated, boiled, or cooked to release analytes, denature proteins, or for other substance extractions – for example, in water baths or microwave digestion. Sample heating may also be necessary to thaw frozen samples. This requires precise extraction systems, heat-resistant containers, and temperature control.

• Mixing or Homogenising : Mixing or homogenising processes aim to transform samples into uniform mixtures with evenly distributed components to enable reproducible results, high measurement accuracy, easier extraction, and accurate dosing.

• Extraction Techniques: Specific isolation methods are used to separate one or more components from mixtures and concentrate them. Many providers offer kit solutions for extraction, usually targeting a specific molecule or application. Optimal sample quality is crucial to ensure the best extraction and ultimately valid results from the sample. This requires high-quality extraction and storage systems that ensure optimal sample collection and biomarker stabilisation.

• Automation Steps: Recurring manual tasks and work steps can be efficiently automated and standardised, for example, through our laboratory automation systems. These include solutions for automated de-capping and re-capping of samples, aliquoting, as well as sorting, distributing, and archiving. Especially through automated label creation, level determination, colour coding, and the opening and closing of samples, you save time and costs in sample preparation while reducing sources of error.

More Efficiency and Precision – with Automated Sample Preparation from SARSTEDT

With our automated solutions for sample preparation, you can enhance the precision of your processes, save time, costs, and relieve your staff in the busy laboratory environment.

In our diverse range, you will find systems and products such as:

Automated Sample Processing: Techniques and Best Practices

In the daily work environment, laboratories face the challenge of increasing efficiency, minimising contamination risks, and ensuring sample integrity. Automated systems for sample processing and high-quality, tested equipment play a key role here. Automation offers you numerous advantages, including contamination prevention, safe handling even of sensitive samples, fast and correct handling of high throughputs, as well as sample tracking and transparent process documentation. SARSTEDT’s state-of-the-art solutions are the key to professional sample processing and quality assurance. Rely on the following advantages:

Sample Retention: Security and Traceability

Proper sample retention forms the basis for future tests, re-requests, and seamless traceability. To ensure the integrity of your retained samples, we offer a selection of high-quality storage containers and systems, such as sealable sample containers, space-saving, stackable block racks (also suitable for uniform freezing from top to bottom), as well as storage boxes and cryoboxes for cryo-preservation up to -90 °C.

With SARSTEDT solutions for sample management and storage, you can easily handle both short-term and long-term storage and retention of samples. Proven methods for secure sample retention for future tests include cooled storage with continuous temperature control and deep freezing for long-term storage.

Micro Screw Tubes from SARSTEDT

Innovation in Sample Storage

Our micro screw tubes set a high standard in professional sample storage, making no compromises. As versatile laboratory materials, they guarantee various container sizes and closure types, high purity levels, break-resistant and durable polypropylene, and certified quality for all types of samples.

Transport and Storage of Samples

During sample handling, you can ensure proper sample transport by adhering to transport guidelines and legal regulations for the transport and packaging of dangerous goods. Important aspects include resilient and, depending on the sample, liquid-tight and break-resistant transport containers, short transport routes, and, if necessary, temperature controls and cooling. By ensuring clear classification and complete sample documentation, you also guarantee that each sample remains traceable and uniquely identifiable.

External transport requirements, especially for external, non-operational transports, are particularly focused on:

• External Transport: The implementation of non-operational transports defines packaging requirements according to P650 of the ADR (Road) regulation and IATA requirements for the transport of dangerous goods by air.

For safe and convenient storage, consider clear labelling, suitable storage solutions, and depending on the sample, temperature-controlled storage. In our range, you will also find vessels and freezing systems suitable for long-term storage and cryopreservation, such as our CryoPure tubes and cryoboxes.

Customisation: Our Products According to Your Needs

Thanks to our customisation solutions, you do not have to settle for standard solutions—we can adapt our products and automated solutions to your specific requirements for product preparation. You can adapt the following according to your laboratory needs:

• Colour Coding: Optimise your processes by clearly distinguishing types of samples with our colour -coded caps according to sample type or other criteria.

• Custom Labels: Make our labels your own—easily with your company name, slogan, barcodes, or logos.

• Different Purity Grades: Choose our consumables in a purity grade suitable for the sensitivity or type of your liquid and solid samples.

• Dimensions: Whether large fill volumes or small volumes—you will find sample tubes in various designs in our range,

• Flexible Packaging Options: Whetherbags, blister packaging, inner and outer cartons, or various packaging sizes—your desired packaging is our mission.

Use our customisation solutions and optimise your processes for more accurate analysis, efficiency, and safety.

The Right Container Matters

It is particularly important that storage containers are suitable for long-term storage at sub-zero temperatures in terms of tightness and durability. We recommend plastic containers such as our storage boxes, sample containers, micro screw tubes made of materials like polypropylene or polycarbonate, and our CryoPure containers specifically for cryogenic storage. Ensure that containers have enough space in racks and storage boxes to expand when frozen. With our colour -coded closure systems for storage containers and barcode labels, you can ensure transparent documentation and quick identification in sample storage.