Fem•Collect™

Cervico – Vaginal Sample Collection Kit

Human Papillomavirus (HPV) is a Sexually Transmitted Infection (STI), that is extremely common among sexually active adults around the world. Despite how common it has become, knowledge of the virus is not well disseminated, partially due to the fact that many people who become infected by HPV will never show symptoms. What is known is that HPV is linked with several types of cancer, including cancer of the cervix, vagina, and vulva.

Fem•Collect™ was developed to improve research into this STI, cancers linked to HPV, and other diseases that may be detectable from DNA or vaginal fluids collected from the Cervico-Vaginal area. By streamlining the collection process, the Fem•Collect™ provides a cost effective method to gather minimally invasive samples and at the same time minimizes the stress and inconvenience for the patient.

Principles of the Kit

The Fem•Collect™ kit uses a very soft, highly absorbent pad that is strategically placed in the vaginal canal to harvest cells / DNA and vaginal fluid that may be used as a biological specimen for downstream testing for HPV and other STIs in the research environment.

Advantages of Sample Collection Using Fem•Collect™

The Fem•Collect™ has a number of advantages when it comes to collecting a Cervico-Vaginal specimen:

• Allows for self collection, in certain settings subjects can collect in the privacy of their own home, if desired.
• Soft pad material, non-abrasive, does not scrape.
• Highly absorptive medium, collects a rich sample available for multiple downstream processes.
• Sealed system, designed to be highly amenable to transportation.
• Short collection time, 5 minutes.