Shipping Instructions

For Shipping Instructions click here

Clinical Laboratory Order Form:

Make sure the form is completely filled out. Please include the physician and patient information, the specimen type, the requested tests, and the payment information. Samples received without an accompanying form of payment will not be processed.

Specimen Collection Containers:

Please mark all samples with the patients’ full names and the date the samples were collected. We will not process unmarked samples, NO EXCEPTIONS.

* Fresh biopsies can be shipped in saline, sterile buffer, or water, within the container.
** Biopsies in paraffin blocks can be shipped as is in a sealed biohazard bag. Please write instructions if you want the remaining biopsy samples to be shipped back to you after our lab testing. Also, it is essential to indicate whether the paraffin block samples should be tested individually or pooled. The cost will be higher if samples are tested individually.

For shipping, we recommend standard overnight shipping to prevent sample degradation.

If a FedEx label is send to you by Clongen Labs, please use this label to ship the specimen. The label should be taped on the box or envelope used to ship the specimen.

Background:

The enrichment media are intended to increase the copy number of specific pathogens and thereby improve the test sensitivity especially for pathogens that are more likely to colonize tissues and do not circulate in high copy numbers in the blood stream. When inoculated with the patient sample (whether is whole blood, tissue biopsy or a swab from a specific infection site), the enrichment ingredients enhance the growth of different pathogens and substantially increase the chances to detect low copy pathogens by Real Time Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) following a 10 day incubation period.

Whole blood: 1-2 ml of whole blood collected in an EDTA tube or a regular syringe should be transferred to the culture medium and the tube should be recapped and shipped back to the laboratory.

Tissue Biopsies: a small piece of the tissue biopsy should be transferred to the enrichment medium tube. The tube should be recapped tight and shipped back to the laboratory.

Swabs: if the specimen is collected from an infection site using a collection swab, the swab should be inserted into the tube, broken off and left in the medium. The tube should be recapped tight and shipped back to the laboratory.

Please do not refrigerate the media once inoculated. Room temperature storage is adequate.

All tubes inoculated with patient specimens must be labeled with the full patient’s name and date of collection. Unlabeled tubes will not be accepted, NO EXCEPTIONS.

Feel free to contact the laboratory if you have any questions.