Here's the latest from the Microscopy and Imaging Channel at Bitesize Bio.

This One’s Upside Down! Inverted and Stereo Microscopes in Bioscience Laboratories By Martin Wilson Most of the microscopes you will encounter in your laboratories will be ‘upright’. In other words, they are assembled (from top to bottom) in the order of; eyepieces, objectives (on revolving nosepiece), stage, sub-stage condenser, diaphragm and base....[read more] Tissue Processing For Histology: What Exactly Happens? By Martin Wilson A procedure which needs to take place between tissue fixation and the embedding/sectioning of paraffin blocks is tissue processing. You simply can’t take fixed tissue and embed it! We have already introduced fixation in this article and embedding/sectioning in this article.....[read more] Advanced Sectioning Techniques: How to Section Difficult Tissues By Jennifer Redig Has this ever been your experience: You lovingly harvest, fix and embed your tissue, only to have your tissue shatter, wrinkle or otherwise look horrible when you section it? Well, before you throw your micro tome across the room (if you can pick it up in the first place!), then read this article. Some tissues are more difficult to section than others. Hard tissue (such as bone) and cavernous tissues....[read more] Alternatives to Paraffin: Cryo and Resin Embedding and Sectioning for Histology By Catriona Paul In most areas of research, the chances are that you have done some kind of histology and most probably used paraffin-embedded tissue. However, the process of embedding in paraffin can be a lengthy one and sometimes it’s not ideal for the staining you want to do or the morphological features you want to see. Fret not, there are a few other ways we can process our tissue samples .....[read more] Special Stains for Histology: An Introduction and Basic Overview By Nicola Parry Haematoxylin and eosin (or H&E- see our H&E 101 articles here and here) is the most commonly used stain in histology labs, representing the ‘bread and butter’ stain for most pathologists who diagnose disease, and for researchers who work with many tissue types. It highlights the detail in tissues and cells, using a haematoxylin dye to stain cell nuclei blue, and an eosin dye to stain other structures pink or red.....[read more]

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