Prospective Biospecimen Collection Services
Prospective Biospecimen Collection Services
We recruit consented donors to your inclusion and exclusion criteria and collect to your protocol — prospectively, drawn to order for your study, or retrospectively from already-banked cohorts when speed matters. Every collection runs under IRB-approved protocols with documented chain of custody.
- Donor recruitment against your criteria from a nationwide network
- You set the specimen type, volume, anticoagulant, timepoints and processing window
- Mobile phlebotomy and clinic-based draws, with cold-chain delivery to your bench
- Recallable donors for follow-up draws and longitudinal timepoints
- Age and sex-matched healthy controls collected under the same protocol
Can't find the samples you need? Request a custom collection
We'll confirm availability, feasibility, and pricing, usually within one business day.
Prospective Biospecimen Collection
A prospective study is designed around your assay before anyone is drawn. We scope it in five stages.
Criteria intake
You send the inclusion and exclusion criteria, specimen types, volumes and timepoints. We translate them into a collection specification and flag anything that will be hard to source.
Feasibility
We query the donor network against the criteria and report how many donors are reachable, in which regions, and on what schedule — before you commit.
IRB review
The protocol and consent documents go to the IRB. Where an existing approved protocol covers your design, that step is shorter.
Donor recruitment
Donors are contacted, screened against the criteria and consented under the approved protocol, with diagnoses physician- or specialist-confirmed.
Scheduled draws
Draws are booked at clinics or by mobile phlebotomy at the donor's home, processed to your instructions, and released to you under documented custody.
Custom, Protocol-Driven Collections
Custom means your protocol governs the collection, not ours. You specify the specimen type, the draw volume per donor, the anticoagulant and tube type, the number and spacing of timepoints, the processing window from draw to processing, and any handling instructions — double-spin plasma, aliquot size, freezing profile, labelling convention.
Protocol-driven collections are version-controlled and performed as written, and every deviation is recorded. If your assay was validated on a specific matrix and handling sequence, the collection is built to reproduce it rather than to approximate it.
You define
Criteria, specimen types, volumes, anticoagulants, timepoints, processing window, aliquot format, storage and shipping conditions.
We deliver
Recruited and consented donors, verified diagnoses, the collection performed to protocol, full documentation and cold-chain delivery.
Retrospective Collections
When the schedule matters more than protocol control, we pull from cohorts already banked from donors consented under IRB-approved protocols, with the clinical record captured at the time of collection.
The difference is where the design decisions sit. A retrospective pull inherits the specimen types, volumes, anticoagulants and data fields recorded at the original draw, so you screen existing lots for fit instead of specifying them. A collection drawn to order gives you every one of those decisions, at the cost of the recruitment and scheduling time. Many studies use both — banked material to start work now, a drawn-to-order arm for the timepoints the bank cannot supply.
Collection Timeline — How Long It Takes
Timelines depend on protocol complexity and cohort rarity. Your schedule is confirmed in writing during feasibility.
| Stage | Timing | What happens |
|---|---|---|
| Criteria intake and feasibility | Usually the fastest step | We turn your criteria into a collection specification, query the donor network and report reachable donor counts, regions and a proposed schedule. |
| IRB review | Shorter when an approved protocol fits | Protocol and consent documents are submitted and reviewed. Studies that fit an existing approved protocol move through this faster. |
| Donor recruitment and screening | Condition-dependent | Donors are contacted, screened against the criteria, consented, and their diagnoses confirmed by a physician or specialist. |
| First draws | Scheduled after activation | Draws are scheduled at clinics or by mobile phlebotomy and processed to your protocol. Rolling delivery usually starts before the full cohort completes. |
| Delivery and completion | Rolling, then set by your timepoint plan | Specimens ship under cold chain with documentation as they are collected. A longitudinal design completes on the spacing of its own timepoints. |
What makes a study faster
- A common condition with a large reachable donor pool
- Donors drawn wherever they are, rather than restricted to named sites
- A single specimen type with standard handling
- One draw per donor, no return visits
- A design that fits an already-approved protocol
What extends a study
- A rare condition, or narrow criteria that exclude most of the pool
- Geographic limits, or specimens that must reach a lab within a short window
- Complex processing, cell isolation or tissue collection
- Several timepoints per donor, or long spacing between them
- Matched control arms that have to be recruited alongside the cohort
IRB-Approved Protocols and Compliance
Donors are consented under IRB-approved protocols, with informed consent captured before any collection and HIPAA-compliant handling of the clinical record. Electronic informed consent uses 21 CFR Part 11-compliant e-signatures, and protocol deviations are documented.
Specimens are supplied for Research Use Only. Not for diagnostic or therapeutic use.
Protocol and criteria
Your inclusion and exclusion criteria, written up and version-controlled before the first draw.
IRB and consent records
IRB approval, informed consent documentation and HIPAA authorisation on file for every donor.
Donor clinical record
Confirmed diagnosis, medication list and demographics for each enrolled donor.
Processing record
Tube type, anticoagulant, processing window, and every handling step as performed.
Chain of custody
Chain of custody and processing times recorded specimen by specimen.
Delivery manifest
Lot-level manifest with aliquot counts, volumes or cell counts, and storage conditions.
Recallable Donor Cohorts
Donors in our network consent to being re-contacted, so a cohort you collected from once can be drawn again.
That makes longitudinal designs practical: baseline and follow-up timepoints from the same individuals, additional volume when an assay needs a repeat, or a new specimen type added to a cohort you have already characterised. Donor identity is held under the approved protocol and released to you only as coded identifiers, so you can link timepoints without receiving identifiable information.
Matched Biospecimen Sets
Several specimen types from the same donor and the same draw — PBMCs, serum, plasma and whole blood off one collection, sharing one clinical record.
This removes inter-donor variability from your comparison. When a cell assay and a soluble marker assay run on material from two different people, genetics, medication history and collection timing are baked into the difference and have to be modelled around. Matched sets let you attribute a difference to the specimen or the assay rather than to the donor.
Healthy donors matched on age band and sex can be recruited alongside the disease cohort and collected under the same protocol, so the control arm shares the handling as well as the demographics.
Therapeutic Areas We Collect For
Frequently Asked Questions About Biospecimen Collection
Can't find your ideal donor? We'll find them for you.
We'll confirm availability, feasibility, and pricing, usually within one business day.