MSACL 2022 Abstract

Working Smarter Not Harder on Sample Prep

Matthew Crawford
Labcorp

Matthew Crawford (Presenter) Labcorp

Presenter Bio: Matthew Crawford is a Scientist II working in research and development at Labcorp in Burlington, North Carolina. He received his B.S. in Biochemistry from California State University, Northridge and is currently working towards his Ph.D. in Analytical Chemistry from University of Texas at Arlington under the instruction of Professor Kevin Schug. At Labcorp, his focus is high-throughput method development and validation for small molecule biomarkers using LC-MS/MS and GC-MS. He’s been on the MSACL steering committee for 2024 and 2025 conferences where he’s head of the small molecule scientific committee.

Relevant Financial Disclosures (within past 24 months, reported on Apr 23, 2026) Honorarium/Expenses MSACL Stock/Bonds LabCorp Salary LabCorp Discussing Products? NO, presenter will NOT present educational content related to products/services of the ineligible company(ies) listed above. Conflict mitigation NOT REQUIRED.

With a suite of sample preparation tools at one’s disposal, where does one start? Theory can certainly provide guidance, but practical considerations may a better north star for the clinical laboratory environment. Certain aspects, such as analytical measurement requirements based on defined clinical reference intervals, can be a quick adjudicator for the type of sample preparation needed (i.e. dilutive or concentration approach) but not prescribe the exact procedure. Other practical considerations within the laboratory can include; turnaround time, laboratory/personnel requirements, automation, environmental/health safety, and cost. If not taken into account, one can end up with a sample preparation protocol which is labor intensive and costly. Is that necessary? Can a method be more efficient from a cost and labor perspective and not sacrifice quality? Examples of such considerations and method development journey resulting in two possible sample prep protocols are compared and discussed herein. Goals are to arm one with pragmatic and practical considerations for method development of robust clinical methods along with design and interpretation of fundamental experiments required to provide confidence in sample prep methods.