The Seeker for this Innocentive Challenge is looking for root causes and mechanisms of reversible post-thaw decrease in calcium concentration in a ready-to-use, liquid, human-serum-based quality control (QC) standard for laboratory testing, and interventions to neutralize this observed decrease in calcium concentration post-thaw.
Clinical labs routinely use quality control (QC) standards to verify the ongoing performance and precision of automated analyzers performing routine laboratory testing. In some samples of a QC standard manufactured by the Seeker, the Seeker noticed a decrease in post-thaw calcium concentration: in a freshly thawed sample, the effective concentration of calcium is lower than the added amount. The decrease, which is batch-to-batch and vial-to-vial dependent, is also reversible with additional mixing of the sample.
The objective of this Challenge is to understand the root cause(s) and mechanisms of this reversible post-thaw decrease in calcium concentration and to design approaches to prevent it from happening.
Awards:- USD 40,000
Deadline:- 02-06-2026
