Spark Holland OEM agreement includes patented DBS technology

Spark Holland B.V. and GERSTEL GmbH & Co. KG have announced an OEM agreement based on Spark’s patented dried blood spot (DBS) technology which recently received a US patent (US 8586382 B2). The OEM agreement includes the use of Spark’s innovative FTD™ technology and the Spark DBS Autosampler™, allowing GERSTEL to develop and market fully integrated automated DBS systems.

Spark Holland is a leading OEM supplier of front-end UHPLC and on-line solid phase extraction (SPE) instruments, specializing in the field of autosampling and on-line SPE and, more recently, on-line DBS analysis. GERSTEL is an international company focused on developing and producing automated systems and solutions for chemical analysis, providing accessories or complete systems with integrated software control. Its main focus is on automated sample preparation for Gas Chromatography / Mass Spectrometry (GC/MS) and Liquid Chromatography / Mass Spectrometry (LC/MS). The company has been successfully using Spark’s SPE technology in its customer focused solutions for over two years.

Ralf Bremer, Managing Director, R&D and Production, GERSTEL, commented, “GERSTEL prides itself on being an innovative company led by the needs of our customers. We identified in Spark a complementary technical expertise and have already successfully integrated its SPE technology into our systems. This agreement is the result of a lengthy collaboration whereby GERSTEL worked alongside Spark with early access to the DBS technology, and developed total software control integration of the DBS-SPE-LC-MS modules for full automation and multiple card handling capacity of 96 -350 cards. We are pleased to be able to integrate proven DBS technology into future analytical systems to offer our customers enhanced productivity and extended capabilities.”

Rob van der Knaap, President Spark Holland BV, added, “We are delighted to be partnering with such an innovative technical company. We are especially pleased to sign the OEM agreement for our patented FTDTM technology with GERSTEL and look forward to seeing the company deliver the first integrated DBS solutions – enabling the enhanced productivity, throughput and precision of the DBS Autosampler™ to be linked to on-line SPE and analysis, all integrated in one software package.”

DBS sampling or Dried Matrix sampling is an emerging technology for bioanalysis. It is particularly useful in the clinical and pharmaceutical laboratory, typically requiring only a 5-15 μL (blood) sample, offering easy, convenient, cost effective sample collection, transport and storage. The analysis of such samples, however, has proved prone to human error and laborious due to tedious manual punching out and off-line procedures or requiring costly punching robotics.

The DBS Autosampler™ is based on Spark’s patented Flow-through desorption technology (FTD™) which provides direct elution of sample from DBS cards. This allows optional on-line clean-up and analyte separation by SPE prior to analysis in an automated workflow, providing consistent quality and maximum sensitivity without any manual intervention. With the potential for many biological samples the DBS Autosampler™ sets a new standard for analysis.

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