Shipping and sample logistics
Samples should normally be shipped frozen on dry ice after coordination with BEVITAL. This checklist covers courier choice, shipment timing, packaging, documentation and immediate storage on arrival.
BEVITAL AS
Frydenbøgården, 5th floor
Minde Allé 35
5068 Bergen, Norway
On the day of dispatch, email post@bevital.no with the air waybill number.
Shipping checklist
Before shipment several factors need to be considered, so samples arrive in optimal condition and nothing thaws or gets lost on the way. Tick off each step as you go, or print the list and keep it at the bench.
Agree and plan
Contact us before you ship anything
Agree on the shipment date, sample type and shipping conditions with us first.
Organize samples in the order you want them analyzed
We analyze samples in the order of the Excel sheet and the boxes. If you need paired cases and controls, randomization or longitudinal samples kept together, organize the samples that way before shipping.
Prepare the vials
Mix serum and plasma before you aliquot
Gradients form in serum and plasma during freezing and thawing, in particular of albumin. Tilt the vial repeatedly with a small air bubble rather than only vortexing, and avoid foaming. Albumin-bound biomarkers such as total homocysteine and total cysteine can otherwise differ by up to 20%.
Use 1 to 2 mL screw-cap vials with printed labels
Labels should carry printed serial numbers and tolerate freezing. Avoid handwritten labels.
Sort the vials into boxes of 100
Place and immobilize the vials in the same order as the Excel sample list, with serial numbers and an unambiguous ID.
Pack and ship
Pack enough dry ice for 4 to 5 days
A box with 600 to 800 samples needs about 10 kg.
Dispatch on a Monday
This avoids delays over the weekend.
Mark the parcel VALUE = 10 (USD or EUR)
This avoids customs delays and extra cost.
Email post@bevital.no
Send the shipping date, the air waybill number and the Excel sample list on the day of dispatch.
Track and receive
Track the shipment
Tell us if it is delayed.
On arrival, samples are stored immediately at −80 °C until analysis.
Choosing a courier
Samples must travel on dry ice with a courier that handles it reliably. These are the couriers we have experience with.
World Courier
Local representatives in Norway take care of all paperwork, so the parcel does not get stuck in customs.
QUICK International
DHL
Quick and affordable.
FedEx
The shipment stops in Oslo.
Indicative cost: transporting one 10 kg item to or from the USA with World Courier costs about €1,500, and three items about €2,000. Prices change, so confirm with the courier before booking.
How we handle your samples
With more than 20 years of experience and thousands of samples processed each month, our procedures are designed to minimize human error, pre-analytical variation and assay drift.
Quality control in every run
Each set of 96 vials contains 6 calibrators, 3 control plasma samples with known biomarker concentrations and one blank to control for carry-over. The calibrators run diagonally across the tray, from the upper left to the lower right corner, to verify the tray position in the autosampler.
Large stocks of plasma calibrator and control plasma are prepared to last for years, which keeps assay drift over time to a minimum. They are aliquoted and stored at −80 °C. New stocks are calibrated against the previous validated stock by analyzing about 1,000 parallel samples over one month.
BEVITAL takes part in external quality control programs for total homocysteine, MMA and cystatin C (DEKS), vitamin D (DEQAS), 24 amino acids, 3-hydroxybutyrate and creatinine (ERNDIM), vitamin K (KEQAS), and 5-methyltetrahydrofolate, cobalamin and hsCRP (LABQUALITY).
Validation across platforms
Some stable metabolites are measured on two or three platforms against the same calibrators: total homocysteine, total cysteine, cystathionine, methionine, tryptophan, kynurenine, histidine, ornithine and trimethylamine N-oxide. Our software calculates the ratios between the concentrations from different platforms.
Each platform needs its own pipetting, reagents and tray setup. Errors in sample identification, handling, pipetting, organization or instrument performance therefore show up as ratios that differ from 1. This also reduces the risk of assay interference.
Data integration
Raw data from the separate platforms and analysis sets are integrated and handled by our in-house QC software and database. Data files from different platforms are merged, results are compared between parallel runs and summary statistics are calculated.
You receive a detailed report of all measured concentrations, with full insight into the quality controls.
Minimal sample use and degradation
Our logistics keep sample consumption low, especially when samples are analyzed on several platforms, and prevent degradation after sampling and during repeated freeze-thaw cycles. Automated liquid-handling robots and methods are optimized for minimal sample use, so precious material is preserved without compromising analytical quality.
Long-term assay drift
Long-term assay drift is a systematic change in measured concentrations over months or years. It can cause small differences in central estimates or distributions when the same samples are analyzed years apart. It is most likely shortly after a method is launched, shows up in large sample series, and is occasionally seen in biobank samples even when longitudinal control samples do not change. Possible causes include column replacement, changes in instrument performance and method optimization.
To avoid bias, BEVITAL measures the samples in each project within a short period, when no deliberate changes are made to the method. We strongly advise against data sets where comparison groups are analyzed at different times. Correction based on overlapping (bridging) samples or control plasma can reduce, but not fully remove, such bias.
Ready to ship? Contact us first, so we can agree on the date and make sure someone is ready to receive your samples.