A vial jacket configured to receive a label. The vial jacket includes a plastic material having a cryogenic operating temperature range, a hinge formed in the plastic material, a locking mechanism, and an opening formed in the plastic material. The plastic material is dimensioned to surround at least a portion of a vial. The hinge defines a first half shell having a first edge and a second half shell having a second edge. The locking mechanism is configured to secure the first edge of the first half shell to the second edge of the second half shell. The opening has an axial length and a transverse length.

A method of characterizing a serum or plasma portion of a specimen in a specimen container provides a fine-grained HILN index (hemolysis, icterus, lipemia, normal) of the serum or plasma portion of the specimen, wherein the H, I, and L classes may each have five to seven sub-classes. The HILN index may also have one un-centrifuged class. Pixel data of an input image of the specimen container may be processed by a deep semantic segmentation network having, in some embodiments, more than 100 layers. A small front-end container segmentation network may be used to determine a container type and boundary, which may additionally be input to the deep semantic segmentation network. A discriminative network may be used to train the deep semantic segmentation network to generate a homogeneously structured output. Quality check modules and testing apparatus configured to carry out the method are also described, as are other aspects.

The invention refers to a photometer arrangement (8) with a reagent container (10,10) comprising a reagent (14) and being provided with a machine-readable reagent identifier (16), an analyzer device (30) comprising a photometer (40) for providing a photometric raw measurement value (M), a reagent identifier reader (45) for providing a reagent identity (R) and a photometer controller (36), a time stamp generator (38) for providing a measurement date (MD), a reagent ageing database (76) with reagent-identity-specific and age-specific ageing correction factors (C), and an evaluation device (50) having a data connection with the analyzer device (30) and the reagent ageing database (76). The long time accuracy of the photometric results is improved significantly.

A vacuum blood collection tube labeling machine and a conveying and labeling method for a vacuum blood collection tube. The machine includes: a loading part of a vacuum blood collection tube, including a plurality of loading slideways disposed in parallel, each of the loading slideways includes an inclined segment and a horizontal segment extending forward from a bottom end of the inclined segment; a label printing part, including a label printer and a output channel of the vacuum blood collection tube connected to the label printer; and a robotic arm, used for grabbing and lifting up a vacuum blood collection tube located on the horizontal segment and transferring the vacuum blood collection tube to the label printer. A method for grabbing the vacuum blood collection tube, moving direction and track of grabbing the vacuum blood collection tube, the robotic arm includes a grabbing mechanism and a movement control assembly for driving the grabbing mechanism.

A specimen processing apparatus performs processing on a specimen contained in a container. The specimen processing apparatus includes: holders having different shapes, each of the holders being configured to hold the container; a holder placement unit that comprises holder receiving portions having different shapes, the shapes of the holder receiving portions corresponding to the shapes of the holders; and a specimen processing unit that performs processing on the specimen contained in the container held by one of the holders placed on the holder placement unit.

A reagent container includes a base defining a plurality of wells having openings exposed at an upper surface of the base and a tube receptacle. The plurality of wells include a first set of wells and a second set of wells. Each well of the first set of wells has an opening to a well bore and a channel in communication with the well bore. The opening has a first portion disposed over the well bore and a second portion disposed over the channel. The first portion has a larger area than the second portion. An angle defined by tangents to the inner surface of the first and second portions at a junction between the first and second portions is at least 100 and not greater than 180. The reagent container further includes a top coupled over the top surface of the base and defining windows providing access to the openings of the plurality of wells and the tube receptacle.

Methods and systems for ordering assays which detect SNPs or gene expression are provided. The methods use PCR and RT-PCR procedures. Collections of stock assays are assembled using pre- and post-manufacturing quality control procedures and made available to consumers via the Internet. In addition, custom assays are prepared upon order from the consumer and these assays are also prepared using pre- and post-manufacturing quality control procedures. The assays are then delivered to the consumer.

A container for a specimen includes a container configured to receive a specimen for evaluation, a first label disposed on the container and having identifying information, and a second label disposed on the container so as to entirely cover at least all perimeter edges of the first label. The second label includes a viewing portion that allows for evaluation of the specimen and an identification portion configured to receive identifying information. Methods for using the container for a specimen are also disclosed.

The present invention provides improved methods for maintaining the physical separation and identity integrity of a biological cellular sample from a patient during processing. The invention enables parallel processing of biological cellular samples, such as patient samples, in a space and time efficient fashion. The methods of the invention find particular utility in processing patient samples for use in cell therapy.

The invention relates to a biopsy container (10) with an identification mark (13), which comprises one or more curves that surround the biopsy container. Identification information of the biopsy container may be encoded in a plurality of widths of the curves surrounding the biopsy container as well as in distances between these curves. Additionally, the biopsy container may comprise an alignment mark (11), which is configured to facilitate the registration of images of the biopsy container. The invention also relates to systems configured to determine identification information of a biopsy container and an image processing method.