Enhancement of control software for a clinical pooling instrument

Samples are analyzed and tested in clinical laboratories. In laboratories for blood donation services, such as the Red Cross, in particular, very large quantities of samples are tested each day. However, as the number of reactive samples is relatively small, the aim is to make the throughput as high as possible and save costs. For this reason, multiple samples are pipetted into each sample tube. These sample tubes are called pool tubes. These contain 96 samples, for example, which are analyzed simultaneously. If all the samples in this pool tube are negative, it is possible to state that all 96 samples are OK using just one test. If at least one sample is positive, resolution tubes are requested. These sample tubes contain a different combination of 12 samples in a pool sample. Provided that the expected rate of positive test results is very small, this method increases the throughput rate in a laboratory.