microsampling to monitor environmental exposures
Blood microsampling enables effective detection of harmful chemicals and metals, such as lead, mercury, and PFAS, in occupational and community settings. While some toxins are banned, persistent exposure is revealed through finger-stick blood tests. Through a small finger-stick sample, laboratories can efficiently assess exposure to environmental contaminants. Devices like Mitra make this process accurate, streamlined, and portable for ongoing environmental health monitoring.
Microsampling User Guide
This technical user guide is designed to get you started with microsampling. The printed guidance from our technical director helps you make initial decisions on best practices for achieving solid analytical validations in your research projects. What microsample volume is needed for your assay? What analyte classes are compatible with microsampling? How do you process microsamples in the lab? Download the guide to find answers to these questions, and more!
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Trajan microsampling technologies can be used to collect finger-stick blood samples for lab analysis to detect heavy metals, chemicals and other environmental pollutants that may show up in the blood after exposure.
Microsamples are easy to collect remotely & mail to the lab for testing, making them a potential medium for validated biomonitoring testing.
Many analytes can be extracted using volumetric microsampling technology. These technologies have been demonstrated to be compatible with testing schema in published studies.
Visit our Technical Resource Library and type your analyte of interest in the library's search field to find relevant literature and case examples.
The VAMS® tips on Mitra® devices, absorb homogenous samples with a 99% acceptance rate.* When study participant's follow the provided instructions and demo videos, they can reliably collect fixed-volume samples suitable for laboratory analysis.
Trajan microsampling devices address hematocrit (HCT) bias found in DBS cards, where non-homogeneous blood spots on filter paper lead to greater variability and higher failure rates.**Data on sample success rates are discussed in published research articles in our online Microsampling Resource Library.
Dried blood sampling is expanding as laboratories update testing methods and technology improves sensitivity and specificity. Research shows that dried capillary whole blood microsamples of 10, 20, or 30 µL provide sufficient material for effective extraction and analysis.
These samples often produce high-quality data comparable to venous blood. The literature includes case studies demonstrating microsampling in research.
Please visit the Technical Resource Library to review comparative studies on microsampling applications.
The process of transitioning to microsampling are divided into three steps or phases, with ongoing technical support from the Neoteryx Microsampling Team:
- Education: The introductory phase
- Evaluation: Extraction, linearity & signal-to-noise studies
- Validation: Validating your method
See our Microsampling User Guide for details.
Biomonitoring Blog Listing
Our microsampling devices have been used by several organizations running environmental health programs, so we cover this topic in our content. Click the button below to explore our blogs on biomonitoring for environmental toxins, health & wellness – all gathered together in a single, curated list.
2. Tech Blog: Using VAMS Microsampling for Mercury Biomonitoring
This blog from our Microsampling Technical Director, summarizes a published paper on an assay developed in Germany to measure mercury (Hg) levels from dried blood samples collected on Mitra® devices with VAMS® technology. Researchers saw a strong correlation between VAMS samples and venous samples. Click the button below to read the blog!
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