MAY the results be with you (soon)…

This May the focus is Histopathology. After going through specialist training, thanks to our technician Anna Blunden, our student Rebekah has completed tissue processing and also paraffin embedding for 60 samples of mussel gonads. The tissues were sectioned (or cut) with a manual microtome and then submerged in a series of alcohol concentrations (imagine dunking your biscuit into six different cups of tea – but in this case, it’s alcohol – so don’t eat the slides!) to remove the paraffin. After that, we stained the tissues with hematoxylin and eosin in order to give a better visualization of the microstructure of the tissue. Of course, at all stages we adhered to the risk assessment, which is of paramount importance (so no tea or biscuits involved in reality!).

Whilst the orders we made months ago are still in the process of arriving, we also have to deal with some changes in tax policy due to Brexit (no comment..). The current policies regarding COVID-19 have also restricted some of our activities, but rest assured we will keep updating you as things develop.

Until then, may the force results be with you (soon)…