Services
Basic Histology:
a.
This comprises cutting sections of frozen or paraffin-embedded
formalin fixed tissues.
b.
The tissue can be stained with an H&E stain or remain unstained.
Complex Histology:
a.
Tissue microarray design and construction: This entails collecting
donor paraffin blocks, selecting the areas of interest to core, and placing
the cores in a blank recipient paraffin block. The advantages are in speed
and cost, as multiple samples may be assessed on one slide. The typical TMA
contains approximately 30-50 cores of 1 -2.0 mm diameter. Approximately 50
to 200 sections may be obtained from one TMA block.
b.
TMA Sectioning: This is complex histology work because of the
necessity of carefully facing the block and placing the ribbon of cores on
the slide.
Laser and Manual
Microdissection: The HTR technical team collects specific areas on a
tissue section. This can be done manually or via laser microdissection. In
many instances, manual dissection is sufficient. A pathologist will identify
the areas to be collected. The method of collection destroys cell morphology
and is thus suitable for morphology independent projects only.
Prospective
Specimen Collection: This usually comprises collection of excess or
remnant tissues left over at the time of surgical resection after diagnostic
samples have been taken for surgical pathologist microscopic review and
enough specimen is retained in paraffin for potential future testing for
patient care.
HTR personnel will
collect the tissues in the Gross Dissection Room of UNM HSC Surgical
Pathology. In general, researchers themselves will not be permitted to
collect tissues in Surgical Pathology as it can impair clinical work flow in
a very busy lab and can lead to inadvertent HIPAA violations.
Currently, the HTR
does not perform venipunctures but will bank such specimens as requested by
researchers.
Specimen
Storage: The HTR can store specimens collected by researchers. Quality
assurance and 24/7 freezer maintenance procedures facilitate long-term
preservation of high quality samples.
Clinical and
Pathology De-identified Data Retrieval: HTR project consultants can
collect pathology and clinical data that are stripped of HIPAA identifiers
while coded to matching samples.
