Human Biospecimens

Human Biofluids for Research

iSpecimen provides access to a broad range of blood and non-blood biofluids from both healthy patients and those with medical conditions, as well as those sourced using thousands of different analytes with corresponding test results.

From clinical remnant to banked and prospectively collected biofluids, iSpecimen streamlines procurement. We also provide access to a diverse, global network of providers to help you find the right specimen and data match for your research, including samples with hard-to-find patient profiles.

What biofluids do you need for your research? Let us know how we can help.

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bloodSamples
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Whole Blood

Whether you need 10 samples or thousands, we can source them efficiently. Whole blood is collected following approved standard operating procedures. Up to 500 mL of venous blood is collected into a collection bag or various tube types.
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Buffy Coats

Get fresh or frozen human buffy coats from a large population of healthy donors, cancer patients receiving a specific treatment, or donor cohorts with specific biomarker information, including CT scans, serology, and pathology annotations.
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Urine

Get human urine samples from healthy and diseased individuals with longitudinal follow-up data to investigate diagnostic markers, disease progression, or response to treatment. Urine samples can be from banked sources or prospectively collected, delivered fresh or frozen.
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Cerebrospinal Fluid

Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) from around the world gives you access to diverse patient populations and geographies. Get frozen or prospectively-collected samples from specific timepoints, such as at baseline and following surgery or treatment.
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Sputum

Obtain sputum samples that meet your quality metrics, collection protocols, and donor specifications for wide-ranging respiratory diseases, infectious diseases, healthy donors and beyond. We'll handle the sourcing and the contracts, allowing you to focus on your research.
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Serum & Plasma

You can get serum and plasma samples from highly diverse and specific patient populations along with de-identified patient-level data. Serum and plasma samples are delivered fresh or frozen after centrifugation and processing according to your specifications.
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Swabbed Samples

Source virtually any type of swab. We can help you find exactly what you need-nasopharyngeal, buccal, eye, ear, vaginal, and more-from healthy individuals to patients pre- and post-transplant, and beyond. Give us your specifications and we'll handle the rest.
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Stool Samples

Source fresh or frozen stool samples in different types of preservatives from various sites around the world. Explore the microbiome of healthy versus diseased tissue, variations between stages of IBD, parasitic phenotypes, and other cohorts.
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Saliva

While considered one of the most readily available and easily accessible samples, saliva procurement can prove challenging if you're looking for difficult-to-access populations. We can get samples according to your patient specifications and precise protocols for sample collection, handling, and transport.
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Finding the Right Biofluids for Your Research

The iSpecimen Marketplace® changes the paradigm, offering single-source access to millions of human biofluids and patients across a diverse network of providers-quickly and compliantly.

Learn More About the Marketplace

Disease Indications

Limitless Possibilities Where You Can Get Specific

If you need it, chances are, we can get it. Our large and growing network of partners connect their electronic medical record data directly to the iSpecimen Marketplace, allowing us to source biospecimens, including human biofluids, for research with highly specific characteristics for a broad range of disease indications. Below are some examples.

  • Allergic Rhinitis

  • Allergies (Seasonal)

  • Ankylosing Spondylosis

  • Asthma

  • Autoimmune Hepatitis

  • Autoimmune Liver Disease

  • Goodpastures

  • Graves' Disease

  • Hashimoto's Thyroiditis

  • Plaque Psoriasis

  • Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA)

  • Scleroderma

  • Sjogrens Syndrome

  • Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (SLE)

  • Systemic Sclerosis

  • Thrombocytopenia

View Autoimmune Diseases

  • ADD

  • ADHD

  • Alzheimer's Disease

  • Dementia

  • Epilepsy and Seizures

  • Major Depressive Disorder

  • Multiple Sclerosis

  • Parkinson's Disease

  • Postpartum Depression

View CNS Diseases

  • Chagas

  • Chlamydia

  • COVID-19 (SARS-CoV-2)

  • Ebstein Barr Syndrome (EBV/Mononucleosis)

  • Gonorrhea

  • Hepatitis A

  • Hepatitis B

  • Hepatitis C

  • Herpes

  • HIV / AIDS

  • HTLV

  • Influenza

  • Invasive fungal infections

  • Lyme Disease

  • Syphilis

  • Toxoplasmosis

  • Zeka

View Infectious Diseases

  • Abnormal Menstrual Cycle

  • Cervical cancer

  • Cysts

  • Endometriosis

  • Menopause

  • Ovarian cancer

  • Ovarian Disease

  • Polycystic ovarian syndrome

  • Polyps

  • Preeclampsia

  • Pregnancy

  • Reproductive health

  • Uterine Fibroids

View Women's Health

Solid tumors

  • Bladder Cancer

  • Brain / Glioblastoma

  • Breast Cancer

  • Colorectal / Rectal Cancer

  • Esophageal Cancer

  • Head / Neck Cancer

  • Kidney Cancer

  • Liver Cancer

  • Lung Cancer

  • Melanoma

  • Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer NSCLC

  • Ovarian Cancer

  • Pancreatic Cancer

  • Prostate Cancer

  • Small Cell Lung Cancer SCLC

  • Uterine Cancer

Hematologic malignancies

  • Acute Myeloid Leukemia AML

  • B-cell Lymphoma

  • Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia CLL

  • Leukemia

  • Lymphoma

  • Mixed lineage leukemia MLL

  • Multiple Myeloma

  • Myelodysplastic Syndrome MDS

  • Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma

View Cancer

  • Swabs, serum, plasma, blood and urine from individuals testing positive for COVID-19 and recovering patients

  • COVID-19 co-morbidities

  • Biospecimens of COVID-19 (SARS-CoV-2) variants

View COVID-19

  • Alagille syndrome

  • Alcoholic Hepatitis

  • Alpha-1 Antitrypsin deficiency

  • Bile duct cancer

  • Biliary atresia

  • Cirrhosis

  • Hemochromatosis

  • Hepatitis C

  • Hepatitis B

  • Liver transplant remnants

  • NAFLD

View Liver Diseases

  • Angina

  • Atherosclerosis

  • Atherosclerotic Cardiovascular Disease (ASCVD)

  • Atherosclerotic Heart Disease

  • Atrial Fibrillation/Flutter (A-fib)

  • Cardiomegaly

  • Cardiomyopathy

  • Cardiovascular Disease

  • Carotid Artery Disease

  • Carotid Disease

  • Congestive Heart Failure (CHF)

  • Coronary Artery Disease

  • Deep Vein Thrombosis (DVT)

  • Dilated Cardiomyopathy

  • Heart Failure

  • Hemophilia

  • Hypertension

  • Hypolipidemia

  • Idiopathic Dilated Cardiomyopathy

  • Ischemia/Infarction

  • Ischemic Cardiomyopathy

  • Ischemic Heart Disease

  • Non-ischemic Cardiomyopathy

  • Vascular tissue from aortic surgery

View Cardiovascular Diseases

  • Celiac Disease

  • Colorectal Disease

  • Crohn's Disease

  • Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD)

  • Irritable-Bowel Syndrome (IBS)

  • Polyps

  • Pre-colonoscopy healthy controls

  • Ulcerative Colitis (UC)

View Gastrintestinal Diseases

  • Asthma

  • Chronic Bronchitis

  • Chronic Sinusitis

  • COPD (Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease)

  • Cystic Fibrosis (CF)

  • Influenza

  • Lung Cancer

  • Pulmonary Edema

View Respiratory Diseases

Need biofluids for liquid biopsy development?
Leave The Procurement Gymnastics to Us

Liquid biopsies are transforming diagnostics, prognostics, and disease monitoring, making earlier and safer disease detection possible. However, biospecimen procurement is often a barrier to efficient liquid biopsy development. By bridging the gap between sample providers and researchers, iSpecimen increases access to biofluids and other biospecimens needed for advancing liquid biopsies.

Fresh Blood In Four Hours

An in vitro diagnostics (IVD) company validating the accuracy and precision of hematology tests needed fresh whole blood samples. iSpecimen met the challenge, delivering these blood samples to the company within hours of being drawn from participating patients. Over a three-month period, iSpecimen delivered nearly 10,000 samples of fresh blood.

Pre-Colonoscopy Samples: Custom Collections

A company developing a liquid biopsy for colon cancer required blood samples from patients undergoing a colonoscopy as well as colonoscopy results and associated pathology results. iSpecimen recruited and contracted with more than a dozen collection sites, coordinated all compliance and contracting requirements, created collection kits, and managed the coordinated collection of thousands of samples across the sites.

Recent Projects Made Possible

By partnering with iSpecimen, you gain extensive access to richly annotated human biospecimens and patient encounters. This is made possible by our growing network of partners, including hospitals, biorepositories, commercial laboratories, HIEs, and other healthcare organizations around the world.

Banked Plasma & PBMCs For Early Stage Cancer

Frozen samples acquired: 2 mL ACD plasma and PBMCs (Ficoll method isolation) from 40 patients with early stage hepatocellular carcinoma.

Remnant Serum from 200 Patients

Remnants received: frozen 1.5 mL serum samples from 200 patients with Grave's Disease, Hashimoto's, and other thyroid diseases (Anti-TSHR across multiple ranges).

Prospective Blood Collection With Imaging

Strategically sourced: 50 mL blood samples with follow-up imaging and laboratory reports from patients undergoing cancer screenings such as mammograms or colonoscopies.

"This process previously required a lot of paperwork and time. iSpecimen makes it so much easier and quicker."

LeeAnn Talarico

Associate Director, Takeda Oncology

Custom and Prospective Collection Experts

When you require a custom collection, iSpecimen experts are here to help. We aid in ensuring that sample matching aligns tightly with your study requirements while also closely managing your projects, from inquiry to fulfillment.

Learn More About Custom and Prospective Collection

FAQs

iSpecimen manages the entire compliance and contracting process across all partner sites, simplifying procurement for researchers. By working with our extensive network of healthcare organizations, biorepositories, and laboratories, we ensure that all biospecimen collections adhere to strict ethical and regulatory standards.

iSpecimen consolidates the process under a single contract, eliminating the need for time-consuming, paperwork-heavy, multi-vendor management. This streamlined approach ensures that you can access high-quality, compliant biospecimens quickly and efficiently, allowing you to focus on your research.

Yes, iSpecimen provides access to a wide range of biofluids from patients with specific diseases or conditions. Our extensive network allows us to source biospecimens with highly specific characteristics for a broad range of disease indications, including autoimmune diseases, cancers, cardiovascular diseases, central nervous system disorders, COVID-19, gastrointestinal diseases, infectious diseases, liver diseases, respiratory diseases, and women's health conditions. iSpecimen can also provide matched sets of various sample types, and healthy normal controls.

Biofluid samples are provided with relevant information including full product details as well as donor information such as patient demographics, diagnoses, medications, procedures, outcomes data, lab test results, pathology reports, family, and social history. The level of sample annotation is dependent upon the collection type.

iSpecimen strives to provide rapid access to all biofluid products, with availability dependent on sample and collection type. Fresh samples may need to be prospectively collected, and in many cases, we offer same-day and next-day collection and delivery. Frozen samples may be immediately available from our inventory. For fresh samples, we ensure quick processing and delivery to maintain sample integrity and viability, keeping your research projects on track.

While we do not have standard volume deals for bulk orders, we are committed to exceptional customer service. We are open to discussing and implementing pricing adjustments or discounts based on your specific needs and order size.

If inventory samples are not the right match, our providers can prospectively collect new samples according to their standard collection protocols, ensuring you receive the specific specimens needed for your research.

iSpecimen implements stringent quality control measures to ensure the viability and integrity of our blood products. All samples are collected following approved standard operating procedures to maintain high cell count and viability. Fresh frozen specimens are placed in proprietary preservation media within 30 minutes of resection to preserve their biological characteristics. This rigorous process ensures that the blood products you receive meet the highest standards for your research needs.