Fig. 3.

Sample collection and contamination minimization strategies. a Whatman 3MM filter paper is pre-cut to yield four 2 cm × 0.5 cm strips, each which corresponds to a 50 µL blood spot. Four horizontal cuts across a strip yield small enough pieces to fit into a standard 96 well plate (which has already been performed for the missing strip on the right), thereby reducing cutting time. b Plastic plate covers used to prevent cross-contamination. On the left is a typical plastic plate cover used during extraction and PCR setup which allows multichannel pipetting of an entire column (eight wells) but covers the remainder of the 96 well plate. The cover on the right is for a single well of a 96 well plate and is used during cutting to isolate the well receiving the cut DBS