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This blog will keep you up to date with the latest insights and developments in the fields of genomics, molecular diagnostics, reagents, kits and immunodiagnostics, all the way from R&D to manufacture.

FTA cards and kits

We’ll be welcoming guest bloggers - industry leaders and scientists from outside of GE - as well as contributions from our own research scientists, in an exciting programme that goes all the way from helping you choose your sample collection method, to the latest trends in sample analysis.

We will be starting with the theme of sample collection, and have scanned the literature of 1000s of FTA-related papers, to identify a series of independent, peer-reviewed publications that highlight the usefulness of FTA™ cards in specific DNA applications, and in which you will find useful ideas, hints and tips for the use of FTA cards in your own sample collection, preparation and analysis.

GE Healthcare has a broad catalogue and custom range of cards for dry biological sample collection. These cards can be used for a variety of applications, including:

• Self collection
• Home collection
• Screening programs
• Remote collection
• Environments not conducive to wet sample collection e.g. poor or no cold storage chain

Dry sample collection is complementary to wet collection methods. It significantly reduces concerns associated with maintaining sample integrity in challenging environments, and allows you to reach previously inaccessible patients with your in-vitro diagnostic assay or test.

Our technology has been applied to a range of biological samples including blood, buccal (cheek), cervical, and saliva, and has been demonstrated as a reliable and reproducible method for small molecule, protein, and DNA stabilization for long durations.

We also configure and manufacture customized ready-to-use collection kits for sample collection prior to diagnostic assays. The abstracts and conclusions from the first two papers are included in our next blog post.