Laboratory Partnership: Our Analysis Lab

Every AirTrap sample passes through two laboratories: Apacor's lab in Wokingham, England – the ISO 13485:2016-certified company that manufactures the cassettes – where the sample is logged and the slide is scanned, and Sporecyte's ISO/IEC 17025-accredited laboratory, where the digital analysis is performed. This page explains who does what, how, and what that means for the results you receive.

Who handles your sample

• Apacor Limited, Wokingham (UK): diagnostics manufacturer founded more than 30 years ago, quality management system certified to ISO 13485:2016, laboratory customers in more than 110 countries. Documented intake, traceable sample IDs and whole-slide scanning of every cassette.
• Sporecyte (Techcyte, Inc.), Orem, Utah (USA): the environmental analysis laboratory behind the Sporecyte platform, accredited to ISO/IEC 17025. AI identification and counting across the entire trace, every result reviewed by a specialist before the report is issued.

How samples are analysed

• Intake: every cassette is logged in Wokingham against its barcode and your online return-form submission; the lab confirms the number of samples received.
• Digitisation: the slide is scanned on a whole-slide scanner so the entire trace is available for analysis – not a few fields of view.
• Identification and counting: in the accredited Sporecyte laboratory the AI identifies and counts spores and other particles on the digitised slide, by genus, and converts the counts to spores/m³ from the 75-litre sample volume.
• Specialist review: a specialist checks every result before the report is issued.
• Report: spores/m³ per genus, indoor samples compared with the outdoor reference, sampling parameters and images from the slide, delivered as a PDF by e-mail within 48 hours of the samples reaching the lab.

What this means for you

A documented chain from the cassette to the number in the report: the method (total spore count by impaction sampling, the principle described in DIN ISO 16000-20), the sampling parameters, the accredited analysis and the reviewer are on record. The report supports the assessment of a surveyor, remediation contractor or building biologist; it does not replace it.

The AI side

How Sporecyte identifies spores and what the analysis delivers: What is Sporecyte? – and the partnership behind it: Sporecyte partnership.

Questions

• Where do I send my samples? To Apacor's lab in Wokingham, United Kingdom – the prepaid return envelope is already addressed.
• Which lab analyses my sample? The slide is scanned in Wokingham; the analysis is performed by Sporecyte's ISO/IEC 17025-accredited laboratory (Techcyte, Orem, Utah).
• How long does the analysis take? The report is issued within 48 hours of the samples reaching the lab; add the transit time from the EU (usually a few days). Report contents and the use of results in expert reports: see the FAQ.

Every AirTrap XL pack includes the analysis described here: complete sets and refill packs.