May 15, 2012:
A Contrarian Opinion Regarding Dried Blood Spot Methodology
Numerous poof-of-concept studies conducted over the last several years have supplied dried blood spot testing with much postivie press. To be fair, there are differing points of view on DBS advantages and processes.

April 17, 2012:
Why Dried Blood Spot Testing Will (Eventually) Make Its Way to the Clinic
Will DBS reach the clinic as a mainstay? The short answer is yes. But just how quickly depends on when still-evolving preclinical efficacy becomes routine.

March 20, 2012:
Is A More Accurate DBS Methodology On The Horizon?
Laser diode thermal desorption tandem mass spectrometry (LDTD-MS-MS) demonstrates greater sensitivity, robustness, and speed of the method compared to conventional high performance liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (HPLC–MS-MS) techniques.

February 21, 2012:
Perforated Dried Blood Spots: A New Microsampling Format
Could your microsampling work benefit from complete sample utilization, no requirement for punching, ease of recovery assessments, and elimination of sampling influence due to HCT levels? Here is an introduction to a novel DBS approach, Perforated Dried Blood Spots (PDBS).

January 17, 2012:
New DBS Test Can Measure Presence of Common Cardiovasular Medications
A new test undergoing trials in the U.K using DBS analysis can identify and measure the amount of drugs present in cardiovasular patients, including ACE inhibitors, beta blockers and statins. The goal is to help make more informed decisions concerning the levels of perscribed medications, saving money on unused perscriptions and hospital re-admisssions.

December 27, 2011:
The Growing Awareness of Dried Blood Spot
The efficacy of DBS in the lab and clinical settings is having an impact in other forms of testing, such as forensic toxicology. This video points out the positives and potential negatives of the procedure, and supplies a perspective on DBS outside the drug development arena.

December 13, 2011:
MALDI-QqQ-MS/MS Plasma Assay Successfully Cross-Validated with an Accredited HPLC-UV Assay Using DBS
DBS is perfectly suited for therapeutic drug monitoring (TDM) of HIV-1-infected children according to a correlation of drugs used to treat HIV-1 infected children. The assessment also demonstrated that DBS can easily be applied for TDM of patients in areas with limited or no laboratory facilities.

November 29, 2011:
New Microcapillary Dispenser Significantly Eases DBS Collection and Spotting
A poster presented at the recent AAPS show describes how a prototype microsampling dispenser offers a capability for blood collection, plasma separation, and quantitative dried plasma spot (DPS) production, all from within a single microhematocrit capillary tube. DBS collection could become easier, more efficient and safer.

November 15, 2011:
Addressing the Problems with Dried Blood Spot Assays
The assay dynamic range is critical in developing bioanalytical methods for DBS. With the need for highly sensitive bioanalytical methods and the limitations made by sample dilution and detection techniques, enhancing sensitivity needs more work without the requirement of a larger hole punch. Here's the latest in that quest.

November 1, 2011:
Dried Blood Spot and Analysis of Tamilfu
DBS is expanding its clinical applicability. An assay has been developed to accurately measure simultaneous determination of oseltamivir (Tamiflu®) and oseltamivircarboxylate concentrations in human whole blood. DBS an ideal tool to measure multiple time points such as those needed in therapeutic drug monitoring or pharmacokinetic studies.

October 18, 2011:
Determination of Tacroilmus in In Rat Whole Blood Using Dried Blood Spot
Another new use for DBS in toxicokinetic assessment. It can accutrately measure Tacrolimus - an immunosuppressive agent used to lower organ rejection following transplantation and to treat various autoimmune diseases of the skin - in rat whole blood with K2EDTA as anticoagulant. See the poster for details.

October 4, 2011:
Hot on the Trail of Dried Blood Spots
Dried Blood Spot analysis continues to gain ground, even to the point of testing clear fluids, including tears. Read the latest in this piece from Drug Discovery & Development.

September 20, 2011:
LC-MS/MS Sensitivity Enhancement using 2D-SCX/RPLC and its Application in the Assesment of Pharmacokinetics of Clonidine in Dried Blood Spots
Smaller samples from DBS leads to reduced number of analytes compared to plasma. Read the latest techniques Covance has developed to dramatically increase DBS sample extracts in this article from Bioanalysis.

September 6, 2011:
Adaption and Adjustment: Expanding DBS’ Large Molecule Bioanalytical Capabilities
Covance recently took an existing plasma/serum method for measuring antibodies and successfully adapted it for a dried blood spot method. Details in are in the poster.

August 23, 2011:
Logistical Considerations and Experiences in Utilizing Dried Blood Spots in Quantitative Bioanalysis
Hear about the logistical considerations, suggestions and tips on dried blood spot sampling, storage and shipping. Plus, learn about the latest information on DBS use in clinical settings.
 

August 9, 2011:
DBS Technical Tips - Suggestions for Refining and Troubleshooting Dried Biosample Spot Analysis
If you use FTA DMPK Cards from Whatman, this technical tips sheet might have have the answers to some of your common usage questions.
 

July 25, 2011:
Toward Routine Dried Blood Spot (DBS) LC-MS/MS Bioanalysis to Support Drug Discovery and Development
Learn about new strategies that increase LC-MS/MS sensitivities for DBS testing.
 

July 12, 2011:
DBS for Large Molecules: Qualitative Determination of a Theraputic Peptide in Dried Blood Spots
Most DBS work has been performed on small molecules… until now. Hear how Covance developed an assay to investigate the applicability of DBS to large molecules.
 

June 28, 2011:
Hemoglobin Variant Analysis via Direct Surface Sampling of Dried Blood Spots Coupled with High-Resolution Mass Spectrometry
This article presents data on blood screening for hemogolobin variants. The techniques and equipment describe how this DBS testing method allows for repeated analysis of a single blood spot over a prolonged time period and is tolerant of blood spot storage conditions.
 

June 14, 2011:
Dried Blood Spot Sampling: Practical Considerations and Recommendation for Use With Preclinical Studies
As Dried Blood Spot testing gains favor in preclinical circles, the "why" gives away to "how". Learn about the considerations of The Three Rs: sample size; card selection and sample spotting considerations.

May 31, 2011:
Toxicokinetic Evaluation of Dried Blood Spot (DBS) Methodology versus Traditional Whole Blood Methodology in Rats Given a Single Oral Gavage Dose of Acetaminophen?
DBS methodology is a viable means for evaluating toxicokinetic exposure in toxicology studies.
 

May 17, 2011:
DBS Methodology At Two Different Laboratories: Transferable and Robust
There is little published data on either the comparison of liquid blood and dried blood spots (DBS) analyses or the ability to generate comparable DBS data at different analytical laboratories. Covance and GSK decided to change that and discovered that the answer to both is a definitive "yes".
 

May 3, 2011:
With Dried Blood Spots, What's Old Is New Again
A recent round-up article from C&EN explains the advantages as well as the challenges using DBS analysis.