BD FACS™ Sample Prep Assistant (SPA) III

Walkaway sample preparation for clinical labs

Overview

The BD FACS™ SPA III aliquots blood and reagents into daughter tubes, adds lysing solution and mixes the sample according to the preprogrammed or custom protocols to automate workflow and increase efficiency.

Automating flow cytometry sample preparation with the BD FACS™ SPA III speeds up processing for labor-intensive manual steps, minimizes variability by reducing manual processing errors and frees technicians’ time for other tasks.

As part of a complete package of instrumentation, software and reagents for sample prep and data acquisition and analysis, the BD FACS™ SPA III makes BD Biosciences the clear choice for clinical applications.

FEATURES

The BD FACS™ SPA III automates tasks and speeds up sample processing

The system’s automation:

Improves laboratory workflow efficiency and frees up technician time to perform other tasks
Accelerates sample processing
Reduces reagent waste in a single dispense compared to the predecessor BD FACS™ SPA II
Handles a variety of blood collection tubes to support a wide range of applications
Reduces errors caused by pipetting variability
Minimizes interaction with potentially infectious samples, thereby reducing exposure to biohazards

The BD FACS™ SPA III offers compatibility with a variety of blood collection tubes and provides process improvements and reductions in sample waste

The system:

Supports a wider variety of blood collection sample tubes, including several configurations of BD Vacutainer^® and Sarstedt^® products, to accommodate a range of incoming sample tube types
Offers savings in both time and cost with processing speed improvements and reductions in reagent waste
Improves processing speeds for multicolor IMK and TBNK assays for time savings of up to 30% over the predecessor BD FACS™ SPA II
Has been optimized to reduce reagent waste by approximately 20% when using the single-dispense mode

The BD FACS™ SPA III provides an efficient workflow and maintenance

Workflow

The SPA III ensures an efficient workflow—It allows technicians to scan a barcode or manually enter sample information into a worklist. Patient samples are loaded into the primary tube rack. Processed samples on the BD FACS™ Loader carousel rack are loaded into a BD flow cytometer for automated data acquisition and analysis.

Predefined BD Multitest™ 6-Color and 4-Color Panels, as well as BD Tritest™ Panels, are available in SPA software. The SPA worklist can be imported into BD FACSCanto™ Clinical Software, BD^® Worklist Manager Software and BD FACSDiva™ Software .

Maintenance

Instrument maintenance procedures for priming, rinsing and cleaning are managed by predefined software settings.

The probe change procedure has been simplified compared to the predecessor BD FACS™ SPA II and is now performed using the software interface, further reducing human exposure to biohazards.