How to Submit Samples

We would like to ship you our Matrix coded Micronic tubes for you to aliquot your samples into these tubes.

Using Micronic tubes significantly accelerates your analysis by eliminating manual handling steps. Because your samples arrive in our standard robotic tubes, we completely bypass the need to transfer samples, manually read labels, or cross-reference items with the sample manifest.

Additionally, our robotic tubes feature a compact design that optimizes space during shipment and storage. Most importantly, this streamlined, direct-to-robot workflow minimizes the number of freeze-thaw cycles, preserving the high quality and integrity of your samples.

Notes: If you have samples other than plasma and serum for proteomics analysis please consult with us how to prepare your samples before you pipet into Micronic tubes at htbiomarkercore@vumc.org

Instructions on how to prepare your samples are below.

1. Please pipet 40 µl of sample for proteomics analysis in each tube. Please consult us for sample volumes for our other services.
2. Sample IDs may contain letters, numbers, underscore, dash.
3. Please do not use special characters such as !@#$%^&*()?><,./=~` in sample IDs.
4. Please do not leave space in sample IDs.
5. Sample IDs must be unique for each sample. If you have multiple time points for each sample, please use additional characters to make them separated from their baseline ones.
6. Please see the video in this link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pvtUG50GTVo
7. In the video they use an instrument to push the caps in place. You may not have that instrument — in this case, please push the caps using your thumbs and make sure they are fully seated on each tube. Then peel off the black tube cap frame from the caps as shown in the video, but slowly, and discard the black frame.
8. Make sure samples are frozen and shipped with dry enough ice.
9. Please pay attention to the rack layout. Row A must be on your left-hand side, and numbers should be below when you are pipetting.
10. Please don't label the tubes with any labels; it is not necessary since they are all barcoded.
11. Please send us the Excel sheet with sample IDs and tube barcodes when you submit your samples.
12. Once you push the tube caps and close, please remember to remove the black cap frame slowly to close the rack lid properly.