Distribution refers to the act of distributing specimens based on the written procedures of the study describing what, how many and how much specimens will be utilized for research. Researchers access biobanks when a researcher is in need of specimens with similar traits for their research studies. For example, one might need blood samples that have been extracted from ‘Caucasian’ males, age ‘50-60’ years old, who have smoked for 10 years or more. The ability to seek out very a specific collection of biospecimens is critical for any biobanking database.
The researcher can request the specimens from the catalog. Based on availability and screening of specimens request managers can approve and distribute the requested specimens.
How to request for specimens?
This section explains how researchers can directly request specimens from OpenSpecimen. You can skip this section if you do not plan to give access to researchers to request using OpenSpecimen.
OpenSpecimen allows researchers to view the summary of available specimens, search and request for desired specimens. There are two options to publish specimens to the researchers:
- Catalog with login for specific investigator study.
- Public catalog without login for general biobanking specimens.
This page describes the workflow for requesting specimens from the catalog with login.
Request specimens as logged in user
- Log in as the researcher.
- Navigate to "Collection protocols" → Click on the ‘View Catalog’ icon.
- The system displays a dashboard showing the summary of the specimens available.
- Click on the ‘View Catalog’ button to see the available specimens.
- Search the specimens of interest by applying any filters from the left side.
- Select specimens of interest and click on the ‘Add to Cart’ button → Click on the ‘Cart’ button that shows the number of specimens added to the cart.
- Review the specimens in the cart and add aliquots details if needed. Click on the ‘Confirm Request’ button.
- Complete the "Request’ form and click on the ‘Submit Request’ button. If the IRB ID is submitted, then it is matched and linked with the corresponding Distribution Protocol.
- An email notification is sent to the Requestor and the Request Managers of the catalog.
