The laboratory
Where your sample goes, and what happens to it there.
Ziro is not a laboratory. We post you a kit, and a partner laboratory does the analysis. Here is the whole route, from your kitchen table to the result on your screen.
The device
A device that presses against your arm, and nothing else.
The device sticks to the outer part of your upper arm, roughly where a vaccine goes. You press the button once.
A tiny lancet opens the skin, and a gentle vacuum draws blood into the tube underneath. There is no syringe and no vein involved, which is why it does not feel like a blood draw.
It takes about five minutes. You unclip the tube, seal it, and the collection is done.
- Where it goes
- Outer upper arm
- How long it takes
- About five minutes
- What it collects
- 300–600 µL of liquid whole blood
- Made by
- Tasso, Inc.
CE marked
The Tasso device carries CE Mark certification for the European market, which covers Ireland. It is the same device used in decentralised clinical trials and by laboratories running remote collection programmes.
We are confirming the UK route with Tasso and the MHRA, and will state it here rather than assume Ireland and the UK work the same way.
Chain of custody
Collection
You take the sample at home
The kit arrives with a Tasso collection device, a sample tube and prepaid return packaging. The device presses against the outer part of your upper arm, a lancet opens the skin, and a gentle vacuum draws 300 to 600 microlitres of blood into the tube. It takes about five minutes. Everything is labelled with a code rather than your name.
Return
It goes back in the post
The sealed tube goes into the return packaging and into any post box. Packaging meets the requirements for sending diagnostic specimens by post in Ireland and the UK.
To be confirmed: Carrier and typical transit time
Analysis
An accredited laboratory analyses it
The sample is analysed by our partner laboratory, which holds ISO 15189 accreditation — the international standard covering quality and competence in medical laboratories. Analysis takes place in Europe.
To be confirmed: Laboratory name and location to be confirmed here before launch.
Release
Results come back to your dashboard
Results are returned to Ziro and appear in your account, plotted against your previous months. You can download the underlying report at any time and bring it to a GP appointment.
To be confirmed: Turnaround time
Storage
Your data stays in Europe
Results are stored on European infrastructure and held as special category health data under GDPR. Your sample itself is disposed of by the laboratory under its own accredited procedures once analysis is complete.
To be confirmed: Sample retention period
The standards that apply
These are the frameworks that govern this kind of testing in Ireland and the UK. We list them because they are checkable, not because they are impressive.
- ISO 15189
- The international standard for quality and competence in medical laboratories. It covers how a laboratory runs its tests, calibrates its equipment and reports its results. Our partner laboratory is accredited to it.
- CE marking
- The collection device is made by Tasso and carries CE Mark certification for the European market, which covers Ireland. We are confirming the UK route separately rather than assuming Ireland and the UK work the same way, and will state it here.
- GDPR
- Your results are special category health data. That sets the legal basis on which we can hold them, your right to a copy, and your right to have them erased. Our health data policy sets out how we apply it.
Why we say all of this
A company that runs its own laboratory can point at its own accreditation. A company that uses a partner has to be straightforward about the arrangement instead, which we would rather do anyway.
The laboratory is accountable for the accuracy of the analysis under its accreditation. We are accountable for the kit reaching you, the sample reaching the laboratory in a usable state, and your results being presented honestly once they come back.