2009 Histology Online Complete Package

Self Study Course: Special Stains on Liver Tissue and Their Impact on Diagnosis
After 2 years on the job, a histotechnologist continues to struggle with producing good-quality manual special stains on liver sections. The director of the laboratory has asked you to speak to her. The director has made it clear that most of her work is acceptable, but her reticulin and trichrome stains, in particular, are inconsistent. Instead of singling out the technician, you decide to present an in-service review of the liver and how special histology stains impact the diagnosis. The in-service review will benefit the entire department.

Self Study Course: Taking the Guesswork Out of Antibody Titrations
A laboratory received a monoclonal podoplanin D2-40 antibody kit from a new vendor. Because the laboratory had not worked with this particular antibody before, a new antibody titration (or dilution) had to be developed quickly and efficiently.

Webcast: Fixation: First and Foremost
Fixation is the cornerstone of tissue preservation. It is the first and most important step when preparing cell and tissue specimens for evaluation and study. Decisions need to be made before damage is done. Degenerative changes occur as soon as an animal expires and a wrong choice of fixative will alter the outcome permanently. For that reason, it is important to understand the nature of fixation and the agents used to preserve tissue components.

Webcast: Optimizing Antibodies for Immunohistochemistry
New antibodies are constantly being introduced for use in the immunohistochemistry laboratory. The conditions for optimum staining of these new antibodies need to be established quickly and efficiently. More often than not, following the manufacturer's recommendations does not produce the desired result because of the variability inherent in immunohistochemical staining. In order to achieve high signal to noise immunohistochemical staining, a thorough understanding of antibody-antigen recognition is necessary as well as the factors that lead to and contribute to poor staining. Based on this knowledge, a systematic approach can be employed to determine the optimum working antibody conditions.

Webcast: Troubleshooting the H & E Stain
Often taken for granted, the routine Hematoxylin and Eosin stain remains the most important diagnostic tool in the Histology Laboratory. When quality issues arise, the ability to accurately access and quickly resolve problems is an important skill for the Histotechnologist.