What is aliquoting?

Aliquoting is the process of transferring a measured portion of a specimen into one or more secondary tubes for different test requirements.

For example, if a single blood draw yields 5 mL of serum but three different specialty labs each need 1 mL, the serum is aliquoted into three secondary tubes — one for each lab. This maximizes the value of a single blood draw and avoids the need for multiple venipunctures.