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Other:  

• feces, saliva, CSF, primary cells
• cell lines, TMA, viral/bacterial culture/isolat
• saliva, fecal samples, surgical wash fluid, joint fluid
• biological fluids (urine, CSF, saliva), genital secretions, stools
• bacterial and parasites strains
• urine, LCR, stools…
• urine, breast milk, fecal samples…
• Digital Tissue images
• diseased organs

Other:

• Our organisation has a dedicated logistics team
• It depends, biobank, CRO, biotech
• Biobank, courier, requester – everything is possible

Other:

• Taxi
• Forwarder, partner of the hospital
• Shared economy: private person courier service

Other:

• Checking inventory for samples of interest
• French Ministry of Higher Education and Research export agreement, but this lw should be cancelled soon
• Collection, preparation of the orders being delayed due to lack of provider´s personnel

• We have developed template documents, and we have a dedicated logistics team.
• We attempt to make the requester organise the shipment but that doesn’t always work because we are the middle man
  Customs/Tariff Codes/export paperwork is the biggest pain point. Too complex to assign to anyone on my team. I screenshot everything I do and keep it for future reference. I don’t do this a lot so I feel like I have to relearn it every few months and the consequences of making a mistake are high.
• Limiting shipments during hot weather months
• Not a successful workaround – but we tried to talk to FedEx management to ensure our packages get through properly on account on paying for the highest tier service. Ultimately we had to stop using FedEx and switch to a specialized courier
• We found a local dry ice provider. We take recycling boxes from the pharmacy.
• Implemented more direct routes of communication with legal and contracts personnel
  customised paperwork for different types of samples, using reliable couriers
• Provider provides very clear instruction of what is requested.
• Using the same courier where possible, to use the same shipment requirements from one shipment to another
• We provide the shipping kits to the sites
• We’ve had the most success with World Courier

Other:

• Typical example of all paperwork and labelling needed for example scenarios: 20 human bloods going to Australia, 100 plasma within the EU, 50 possibly infected blood to UK university, etc
• We have everything in place
• A listing based only on the experience of BSH users and the carriers they have worked with. It can be scalable: for example, if I click on the international transport icon, then select the continent, I can see a ranking of the most used carriers to the least used by BSH members, along with their contact details. Some carriers add dry ice to guarantee the cold chain for weekend shipments, while others do not, and sometimes the sender is unaware of this, which limits the shipping times for frozen samples. These suppliers know what customs authorizations are required. BSH can provide information on GDPR according to different countries.

Your survey responses were incredibly valuable! Based on your input, we’re preparing to build partnerships with top-performing couriers to help solve the administrative challenges you identified.

To ensure we prioritize the right partners, we’d love to hear about your courier experiences:

• Which courier has worked best for your organization?
• Any specific positive or negative experiences to share?
• What would make you switch to a new courier service?

**Send your insights to: support@biosamplehub.org

Your feedback directly shapes which courier partnerships we pursue and what benefits we negotiate for members.