One thing that seems to be forgotten or lost in all of these armchair analyses is that while it is true that something like 3mL of blood is collected for a conventional lab test, the machine itself when it runs the test only takes a few microliters (maybe 10s of uL, all of this is depending on the test of course). The rest is frozen for follow-up or repeat testing or used for other tests or just discarded after some time.
EDIT: And my favorite part is the first step the Siemens machines they used for testing is to "dilute" the part of the sample it is going to use (addition of DI water, to get the blood to the desired concentration). That is hard-coded into the protocol, with a specific dilution amount, and it is done for all the official Siemens tests, as well, hah.
EDIT: And my favorite part is the first step the Siemens machines they used for testing is to "dilute" the part of the sample it is going to use (addition of DI water, to get the blood to the desired concentration). That is hard-coded into the protocol, with a specific dilution amount, and it is done for all the official Siemens tests, as well, hah.