Dried Blood Spot Puncher

A gentle solution used in most Polish hospitals, allowing for punching dry blood discs from a dry blood spot paper or card and placing them in specific holes in a 96-well plate. The puncher is semi-automatic, which means that the user select operates with the paper/card and triggers the cutting process. The knife is triggered by pressing the table of the puncher or a foot pedal. The punched disc goes to one of two 96-well plates. The positioning of the 96-well plate and the selection of the hole is automatic in cooperation with the control software installed on the PC. The puncher is designed to work with standard sizes of 96-well plates. The software allows for the current designation of the holes for punching, as well as for the implementation of appropriate patterns (e.g. every second row and column). The standard equipment of the puncher is a set of a knife and a matrix allowing for cutting discs with a diameter of 3.5 mm.

The device allows for a variety of configurations. It is possible to use knives with a cutting diameter from 1.6 to 6 mm. The device can be equipped with a cylindrical or a cross-shaped knife. The maximum height of the multi-well plate is 42.5 mm. We have an option which allows us to verify the presence of a disc (with a diameter of 3.5 mm) in the designated well. The device can use two multi-well plates or one plate and a bin for cleaning the knife. A barcode scanner can be also attached to the machine.

The design of the device allows for convenient and quick sample preparation. The machine supports both classic blotting paper and dedicated Capitainer® cards. Additionally, the machine can cut discs from any type of matrix, not only dry blood droplets but also saliva and urine.