Sorry to be so late to the party, hope I'm not too late to share my
story: I still vividly remember being shown a "career documentary" film
about histotechnology, in junior high school, back in the 60's, by my
biology teacher, Lynda McCurdy Ballingall--the lovely lady who influenced my
life more than anyone else, and who I just enjoyed the privilege of visiting
in Chicago, where she lives now, when the Society for Neuroscience meeting
was held there last year. (She swears she remembers me staying after class
to continue drawing what we were observing under the microscope, though I
have absolutely no recollection of this!)
But I didn't think much more about it till I earned my PhD in
Psychobiology, decades later. Of course in psychobiology research
histology is an important method, to verify lesion damage, electrode and
cannula placements, etc. Back in the "good old days" a psychobiology lab
supported a technician, an animal caretaker, a secretary, and a histologist,
in addition to grad students and the primary investigator. I began as that
golden era was waning though, at least in our lab. I survived by teaching
undergrads, and the histologist was being "let go". Just before she left,
our delightful histologist, Mrs. Anne Madsen, patiently trained me, and I
then trained the students who came after me. The only drawback was that
she was so expert that everything worked perfectly in her hands. It then
took me the next few decades to painfully learn by trial & error how to
troubleshoot as things gradually went wrong (pH's drifted off, gelatin
congealed, etc. etc.).
I gradually added other related methods to my armamentarium, like
immunohistochemistry and in situ hybridization histochemistry, while a
post-doc at NIH. Not least of the "goods" that I reaped at NIH were the
supplies that labs discarded when they moved, which I hoarded in my basement
at home in anticipation of setting up a lab of my own in academia, where
funds don't flow as freely as those at NIH, someday--enough, it turned out,
to set up my own functional lab nearby at George Mason University!
So when I began teaching a graduate level Histology/Histochemistry
course that I kluged together on my own at GMU (thank goodness for Carson's
textbook!), several years ago, I made a big deal of teaching my graduate
students the nitty-gritty "nuts & bolts" theories/rationales underlying the
methods, to prepare them for troubleshooting in their own futures! Some of
you may recall that one of my students inadvertently stirred up a flurry of
debate about the purpose of Histonet a few years ago when she asked a
question that was misinterpreted as "cheating" while utilizing Histonet as a
"resource" (not what I had in mind when I encouraged them to subscribe to
Histonet!) in preparing for a lab that embedded a "mystery" to solve in the
exercise of learning how to use Nissl stains (trying to make things more
interesting).
One downside to having learned "on the scene", as it were, is that I
never received formal training or licensing in histology. So now that I
find myself unable to afford to continue indulging in teaching as an adjunct
($3K for a 5 credit class), since my husband's death, I also find myself
excluded from "real jobs" in histology. (If anyone in the DC/Northern
Virginia area could use someone like me, please email me!)
I laughed a lot over others' stories of their kids' exposure to their
work. Mine were also practically raised in labs (my husband was also a
scientist [electrophysiologist]). They have more vivid memories of the
animals we used in our psychopharmacology research though--to this day (my
son is graduating from college now) they proudly profess to never having
felt the slightest temptation to abuse drugs (thank goodness!), having been
appalled by the pathetic bedraggled appearance of our drug-injected rat
subjects when they were knee-high. I did have fun taking slides in to show
their junior high school biology classes, when they learned microscopy,
though it seems this was more exciting for me than it was for my kids (their
classmates did send warmly appreciative notes thanking me!).
nostalgically, Susan
----- Original Message -----
From: "Breeden, Sara" <[email protected]>
To: "histonet" <[email protected]>
Sent: Thursday, March 11, 2010 8:09 AM
Subject: [Histonet] Histo Stories
Thanks to everyone that sent their Story of How I Ended Up Doing This
Histology Thing! I have gotten 50 or more replies! The one thing that
strikes me is how many of us went into this profession without a clue!
With all the opportunities to recruit future histologists, this
Histology Day idea is a good start. On the original subject, I'm
planning to make one document out of all the replies and - WITH
PERMISSION - attach your name to the answers. If you do NOT want your
submission listed because you want to remain anonymous, you must let me
know ASAP. Send to: [email protected]. Thanks for your stories!
Sally Breeden, HT(ASCP)
NM Dept. of Agriculture
Veterinary Diagnostic Services
PO Box 4700
Albuquerque, NM 87106
505-841-2576
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