5 Ways LRC Kits Solve Lab Bias
At Solomon Park Research Laboratories, we believe that inaccurate test results can be a matter of life and death. Our founder, Dr. Patric Clapshaw, often reminds us that we have a responsibility to get this right. For decades, we have provided one of the world’s best known commutable, accuracy based Calibration and Control Kits. Used in more than 1,000 laboratories worldwide, our Lipid Reference Control (LRC) kits as well as the CDC approved lipid standardization pools (LSP) serve as the gold standard for ensuring equipment monitored by these educational materials are perfectly configured to pass critical, regulatory proficiency testing controls.
Here are the five ways our LRC and other kits eliminate lab bias and protect your diagnostic integrity.
1. The Power of the C37A Manufacturing Method
The secret to our commutability and accuracy is the C37A method. Developed in direct collaboration with the CDC, the NIST and the CAP, this process delivers unprecedented precision across all insstruments tested. While many commercial controls use lyophilized processes that can alter a sample’s physical structure, the Solomon Park C37A protocol ensures that our samples faithfully mimic a patient’s actual blood sample across all analytes so far tested.
2. Pass the CAP Survey Every Single Time
A failed Proficiency Testing survey is more than an administrative headache; it is a red flag for your lab’s reputation. Our LRC and other kits act as a pre-exam for your equipment. Because they come with 99.5% Reference Value Accuracy, you can confirm that your equipment is giving you the correct results before the survey arrives. Solomon Park leads the industry in accuracy to such a degree that the College of American Pathologists uses our kits in their certification programs.
3. Accuracy Across the Entire Analyte Spectrum
Most controls rely on peer derived consensus values, which are essentially an average of what other laboratories are reporting. Solomon Park is distinguished from most other programs in that we provide accuracy-based, commutable kits benchmarked against the highest standards of quality.
To ensure precision at every level, each kit includes three samples:
- Low QC
- High QC
- Cal & QC
This tiered approach ensures that your values match the reference generated values across the entire analyte spectrum, identifying proportional bias that single-level controls often would miss.
4. Reducing Matrix Effects with Fresh Frozen Serum
We know from long experience how a sample is handled matters greatly. By using fresh non-lyophilized serum which is ultimately stored and shipped at -80 degrees Centigrade, we eliminate matrix effects that cause equipment to misread synthetic, outdeated or heavily processed materials. When your analyzer sees a Solomon Park sample, it reacts exactly as it would to a human patient sample, providing a true reflection of your equipment’s performance.
5. Custom Solutions and Rapid Fulfillment
Bias is not limited to standard lipid panels. At Solomon Park, we can create custom solutions tailored to your needs, whether you are looking for specialized analytes or a unique calibrator pool. We also understand that lab timelines are critical, so we have optimized our standardized kits for efficiency.
Our kits are pre-manufactured to the highest standards, allowing us to fulfill orders within 2 to 3 days. To maintain integrity, every shipment is packed in dry ice and sent via overnight delivery. This ensures our samples retain their reference value calibration and stability from our lab to yours.
The Bottom Line
Every step of the Solomon Park Research Laboratory’s manufacturing process is designed to ensure that our samples are perfectly calibrated and benchmarked every time. We do not just sell kits; we provide the peace of mind that comes with knowing your laboratory is operating at the peak of scientific accuracy.
Is your equipment truly calibrated?
