Experimental Histopathology Grants and Publications

Descriptions for Grant Writers 

Investigators who are writing grants can find below a description of the Experimental Histopathology shared resource and its services for their grant applications. Descriptions of the overall Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center Shared Resources program are available on the main Shared Resources grant information page.

Examples of publications coauthored or made possible by the staff of the Experimental Histopathology shared resource are listed below.

 
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Citations for CCSG  |  Grant Descriptions  |  Publications

Citations for CCSG-Support Research

All publications, press releases, or other documents that cite results from CCSG-supported research must include acknowledgement of the grant and maintain compliance with NIH Public Access Policy. All manuscripts accepted for publication must be submitted to PubMed Central and be assigned a PMCID. Additionally, please reference the Research Resource Identifier (RRID). RRIDs are assigned to cores to help researchers cite key resources in the biomedical literature to improve transparency of research methods.

“This research was supported by the Experimental Histopathology Shared Resource, RRID:SCR_022612 , of the Fred Hutch/University of Washington/Seattle Children’s Cancer Consortium (P30 CA015704).”

Experimental Histopathology Grant Descriptions


Short Grant Description

The Experimental Histopathology shared resource offers histology, special stains, immunohistochemistry, digital pathology and pathology support. The core has extensive experience with human and animal tissue and provides routine support as well as customized protocol development. Immunohistochemistry services include antibody optimization, immunofluorescence (IF) and multicolor IF.
 

Long Grant Description 

The Experimental Histopathology shared resource occupies 1,200 square feet of laboratory space on the DE level of the Thomas Building on Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center’s South Lake Union campus. The shared resource provides support for the preparation, analysis and interpretation of tissue and cell specimens using histological and immunohistochemical methodology. The shared resource has a great deal of experience working with human specimens as well as animal models. The core is well-equipped with automated Tissue-Tek Paraffin Processors, Tissue-Tek Paraffin Embedding units, a Sakura hematoxylin and eosin (H&E) stainer, Leica microtomes, Leica cryostats, Dako immunohistochemistry stainers, Nikon microscopes and stereoscope, Nikon cameras, an Aperio ScanScope AT, and an Aperio ScanScope FL. In addition, the shared resource is staffed with histotechnician (HT) and histotechnologist (HTL)-certified histology technicians with a wide range of clinical and research experience.

Histology services include tissue fixation, embedding, sectioning and H&E staining of both paraffin-embedded and frozen samples. Cytocentrifugation and HistoGel embedding is available for preparation of cytology specimens. Special procedures have been developed to section samples for molecular analysis. In addition, the laboratory is skilled at preparing tissue and slides for tissue microarrays, or TMAs.

The core offers a wide spectrum of special stains, including periodic acid-Schiff (PAS), Wright-Giemsa, Movat’s pentachrome, reticulin, silver stains, iron stain, Masson’s trichrome, Alcian blue, nuclear fast red, and stains for various bacteria and fungus. Several techniques are available to stain whole tissue and frozen tissue sections for beta-galactosidase expression. Special stain development is also available to support the needs of various studies.

Extensive immunohistochemistry services are available. The core uses automated immunochemistry stainers in order to offer consistency and standardized protocols on large- and small-scale projects. Over 140 antibody protocols are available for staining human and animal tissue. These antibodies include markers for cellular identification, proliferation, tumor type and progression, apoptosis, and activation. This is often made possible utilizing the antigen retrieval techniques the shared resource has available for formalin-fixed tissue. Various detection methods are offered including horseradish peroxidase, alkaline phosphatase and fluorescence. This flexibility allows for a wide spectrum of staining including dual immunohistochemistry and multicolor immunofluorescence. The core also offers services in antibody optimization, novel antibody staining protocols and antibody validation.

Digital pathology services are also available through the shared resource. The Aperio ScanScope AT has the capacity to scan 400 brightfield slides automatically at 20x or 40x. The Aperio ScanScope FL has the capacity to scan five fluorescently stained slides automatically at 20x or 40x. The system includes Spectrum, a robust web-based software to manage and archive digitized histology data. In addition, image analysis software is available for both brightfield and fluorescent images through Aperio and Definiens and includes nuclear, cytoplasmic and membrane analysis; color deconvolution; microvessel quantification; pathology pattern recognition; and TMA analysis tools. Digital slide images can also be shared with collaborators at other institutions using Second Slide.

Pathology review is available for histology and immunohistochemistry analysis. In addition, the staff collaborates with a number of veterinary/comparative and clinical pathologists. The shared resource has a five-headed Nikon microscope with a camera to facilitate the review of samples and capture critical data.

Selected Publications Made Possible by Experimental Histopathology

This is a partial list of publications. For more publications, contact us.