Provides a wide array of general and specialized histology services, to help researchers advance their scientific aims and improve research efficacy, efficiency, and quality.
The Histology Innovation Platform at the Goodman Cancer Institute is a full-service histology laboratory designed to meet the research needs of the academic and private sectors. The facility offers automated immunohistochemistry (IHC) and multiplex staining, tissue microarray (TMA) generation and high-resolution slide scanning to advance your times. In addition, a board-certified pathologist is on staff to aid in protocol development and analysis.
The Platform serves over 120 different research labs a year in different departments, faculties, and institutions. In a year period, approximately 700 requests are received, and nearly 45,000 slides are prepared. With the volume of requests received and the wide array of specimen types, the technicians are skilled and knowledgeable in a variety of areas and provide researchers access to high quality histological information to help enhance and accelerate their research aims.
The Histology Innovation Platform is designed to help facilitate histology services on a wide breadth of tissues, cells and organoids from mammals, plants, insects, and fish. Services span routine histology work to more complex services, and include:
- Tissue grossing and cassetting.
- Paraffin processing, embedding, and sectioning of both paraffin embedded or frozen samples. This can be done in RNA free conditions.
- Scroll sectioning to collect specimens for DNA or RNA extraction and further sequencing.
- Decalcification.
- Routine Haematoxylin and Eosin (H&E) staining.
- Specialty staining, including lipid, connective tissue, mucin, glycogen, mineral and neuronal stains.
- Automated, reliable, reproducible, and high throughput immunohistochemistry (IHC), In Situ Hybridization (ISH) and multiplex staining and protocol design using the Ventana Discovery Ultra automated slide preparation system.
- Generation of tissue microarrays (TMA), with the automated TMA Grandmaster
- Digital whole slide scanning, with Z-stacking options.
- Training on histological equipment.
- Instruments for use by trained personal.
Customizations are available for any of the services to meet researchers needs. The team can help clients adapt stains, create new specialty staining protocols, and generate new protocols for immunohistochemistry and multiplex staining for your antibodies and tissues of interest.
- Agriculture, animal science and food
- Education
- Healthcare and social services
- Life sciences, pharmaceuticals and medical equipment
Specialized labs and equipment
| Equipment | Function |
|---|---|
| Sakura Tissue-Tek VIP 6 Tissue Processor | Prepares tissues for paraffin embedding. Steps include tissue dehydration, clearing and paraffin infiltration. |
| Leica EG1150 Modular Tissue Embedding Center | Used after processing to embed tissues into paraffin blocks. |
| Leica ST5020 Stainer | Automated and programable routine staining. |
| Leica CV5030 Coverslipper | Automated coverslipping, places coverslip onto slides after staining. |
| 3D HistechTMA Grandmaster Microarrayer | Automated, high-throughput Immunohistochemistry (IHC), In Situ Hybridization (ISH) and Multiplex staining. |
| Leica, Microm and Shandon microtomes | Semi-automatic and manual microtomes to cut frozen tissue samples into sections. Available for training and booking. |
| Microm and Fisher cryostats | Semi-automatic and manual cryostats to cut frozen tissue samples into sections. Available for training and booking. |
| Thermo Scientific SlideMate AS Slide Printer | Prints label directly onto slide. Includes bar code scanner to read cassette labels. |
| Hamamatsu NanoZoomer S210 Whole Slide Scanner | Digital Bright Field Slide Scanner. Generates high-resolution digital images for publication or analysis. Scans at either 20x or 40x magnifications and has Z-stacking options. |
| Thermo Scientific PrintMate AS Cassette Printer | Prints labels, as well as barcodes with complete identification information, directly onto a cassette. |
Private and public sector research partners
- University of Calgary
- Université de Montréal
- McGill University
- Royal Victoria Hospital
- Montreal General Hospital
- Montreal Children’s Hospital
- Shriner’s Hospital for Children
- McGill University Hospital Centre Research Institute