When changing instruments you are validating the instrument, not the test. For
each antibody you just need to run parallel tests in each instrument showing
equivalence.
However, if you change the instrument and ALSO change the antibody and/or
detection system, Antigen retrieval, etc, then you
The CLIA criteria are below. Note that the entire test is considered to be the
combination of pre-analytic, analytic and post-analytic. It does not matter how
the test is performed (manual or automated) because the FDA determines
complexity of a "test" as sold by a vendor. It goes with the test,
Joyce wrote:
"The Federal Register is always a good place to find interesting reading"
Gee, Joyce, all these years I've known you and I never realized you are a
masochist!!
But maybe the fact you are the go-to person for regulations should have been a
clue!;)
Tim Morken
-Original Message
Peggy, Carson's modification of Millonig's buffer with formalin is great for
kidney and any other general EM use for general pathology labs. I used it for
many, many years when I worked in EM and it worked just as well as the
specialized EM glutaraldehyde fixatives / buffers.
Just look up "Car
We keep ours for two years. We are under JC and that is how far back they go
when checking.
Tim Morken
Supervisor, Histology, IPOX
UCSF Medical Center
San Francisco, CA, USA
-Original Message-
From: histonet-boun...@lists.utsouthwestern.edu
[mailto:histonet-boun...@lists.utsouthwestern.
I would like to hear about whatever system you may have for orienting prostate
needle biopsies straight and handling from bx through embedding.
I'd especially like to know if anyone is using the procedure outlined in this
paper:
"Optimized preembedding method improves the histologic yield of p
Helen, did you write a paper from that study?
Tim Morken
Supervisor, Histology, IPOX
UCSF Medical Center
San Francisco, CA, USA
-Original Message-
From: histonet-boun...@lists.utsouthwestern.edu
[mailto:histonet-boun...@lists.utsouthwestern.edu] On Behalf Of Helen Fedor
Sent: Thursday,
Akemi, here are a couple papers on barcoding in the AP lab:
Reengineered Workflow in the Anatomic Pathology Laboratory: Costs and Benefits.
Archives of pathology & laboratory medicine (2009) volume: 133 issue: 4
page: 601
The Henry Ford Production System: reduction of surgical pathology in
To anyone in the San Francisco Bay area, generally northern half: Is anyone
interested in training a neophyte for histotechnology?
A person in San Francisco contacted me about learning histology. He came and
observed in our lab and is very interested but needs a lab to train in. He is
looking a
Just a cautionary note about the article mentioned by Richard: The study only
tested known 3+ samples.
Any validation of fixation time reduction or extension would need to test the
process on the expected range of expressions
" Ibarra JA and Rogers LW: Fixation time does not affect expression
We use Davidson inks, except for the green. The green was gumming up our VIP
processors. In fact we found out that Dr. Davidson does not recommend using the
green for tissues to go through a processor, but that was not in the datasheet.
So we use Cancer Research for the green ink.
Tim Morken
S
Morken, Tim would like to recall the message, "[Histonet] FW: DAB".
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Histonet@lists.utsouthwestern.edu
http://lists.utsouthwestern.edu/mailman/listinfo/histonet
A cheap solution for the weekend is to get some electronic thermometers that
record the high and low (Fisher has certified electronic thermometers pretty
cheap). Then for the weekend you can document what the high and low was for
that time period.
Also, for critical reagents like antibodies, a
Steve's workshop at NSH last year was a good intro to lab design. The most
significant take-away was that they did many, many modifications on paper
before they ever did anything for real...and all with LEAN principle driving
the design.
Tim Morken
Supervisor, Histology, IPOX
UCSF Medical Cen
This link will take you to the article about legalisms of tissue and blocks:
http://labmed.ascpjournals.org/search?fulltext=tissue+blocks&submit=yes&x=18&y=12
Tim
>>> "Morken, Tim" 9/8/2010 6:49 PM >>>
There was a good article about this topic in L
There was a good article about this topic in Lab Medicine (ASCP) "Who Owns
Diagnostic Tissue Blocks?" February 2009, Vol 40, No 2, pf 69-73 (available in
pdf format on line at www.ascp.org).
It also addresses wet tissue, other things taken out of people.
The key sentence in that article is: "
Part of the Ventana response was "Many customers, however have expressed that
they would rather utilize the slide drawer for another patient slide, rather
than running the fitc negative."
I hope the customers come to understand that the negative control is necessary,
not just an option.
Also,
In case anyone is still wondering, here is the response from CAP to a question
about their current position on use of RUO's for diagnostic use:
"The CAP removed reference to RUOs in the checklist. The CAP position is RUOs
are not to be used for clinical testing."
Tim Morken
UCSF Pathology
San
Brian,
What helped me a lot with stains, fixatives, etc, was to make a chart of each
of the stain or fixative "families" (silver, trichromes, etc) and list the
method steps of each, components used, and purpose of the components. That put
in perspective the reasons for the differences, which a
Does anyone know of a plastic, inexpensive staining dish for the Richard-Allan
or Raymond Lamb 30-slide vertical rack. Something similar to the tissue tek
plastic stain dish. The Rack is 11cm / 4 3/8" long
Tim Morken
Supervisor, Histology / IPOX
UCSF Medical Center
Box 1656
1600 Divisadero St.
ethod they are implementing.
Dan
-Original Message-
>From: Jesus Ellin
>Sent: Jun 26, 2010 6:28 AM
>To: "Morken, Tim" ,
>histonet@lists.utsouthwestern.edu
>Subject: RE: [Histonet] New CAP question ANP.22760
>
>I have been reading the post to this question and
Joe,
You wrote : The folks in the 'clinical' lab have been performing more
comprehensive and complex validation procedures for a very long time ..."
Those were my thoughts exactly. While the person replying may or may not have
specific histology experience she will have clinical lab experience
Yes, we do that...
You pay your money and they send the materials.
JC accepts CAP as the proficiency provider.
JC is more oriented to the whole system rather than just the lab. JC is not as
specific towards lab technical issues as CAP is. They use "tracers" to follow
everything done to and for
Angie,
We had exactly the same requirements and got a Helmer double fridge with glass
doors, pull-out shelves and a chart temp recorder. It works very nicely. Model
HLR256. We also got the upgrade to heated glass doors and temperature
calibration certification.
Tim Morken
Supervisor, Histolo
I have a paper from Yale several years ago about their tissue array facility.
They found that storage in nitrogen helped a lot. I will try to find it, but
you may be able to google it faster.
Tim Morken
Supervisor, Histology / IPOX
UCSF Medical Center
San Francisco, CA
-Original Messag
Nice wrench, eh?
They point out that they used known high expressing tumors to do this
experiment. High expressors will stain with almost anything, even poor AR or
weak antibody. So, the question has to be: what about low expressors? They
conclude that the fixation paradigm should be rethought
Tonia, obviously you have to validate your systems so you need to do some
validation ahead of time with non-patient samples. You can validate your
instruments and reagents on tissue arrays (you can even get commercial
validated arrays for ER, PR and Her2). I suggest Pantomics (www.pantomics.com)
Carol wrote: "Will the new CAP guidelines related to "processing" and
"grossing" affect CLIA regulations? "
What CAP requires does not "affect CLIA regulations;" it is the other way
around. It may be that CAP is simply fine tuning its requirements to better
reflect the CLIA regulations.
CAP is
Paula,
Carson's book is probably them most relevant to basic histology these days
(Sheehans is still very good for detail on technique and stains but has a lot
of old material that you will rarely, if ever, see anymore). Bancroft's book is
also excellent, has more detail on given stains and ha
-Original Message-
From: Mike Pence [mailto:mpe...@grhs.net]
Sent: Friday, April 23, 2010 7:17 AM
To: Patsy Ruegg; Morken, Tim; Maxim Peshkov
Cc: histonet@lists.utsouthwestern.edu
Subject: RE: [Histonet] new er pr cap guidelines
This was my first post about this issue: (I got no responses
Use this link to go to the CAP website to download the 2010 ER/PgR guidelines
article (Arch Pathol Lab Med. 2010;134:E1-E16)from the CAP download page:
http://tinyurl.com/34kxhtn
Tim Morken
Supervisor, Histology / IPOX
UCSF Medical Center
San Francisco, CA
-Original Message-
From:
When I took the HT in 1989 I had studied for a year on my own and with a
once-a-week study group from our lab. I learned on the job and had been working
in histology for 5 years by that time and it definitely helps to do the
practical work to get the details into your head (luckily our small lab
Along with the new CAP/ASCO ER/PR guidelines there was a front page article in
the NY Times yesterday: "Cancer Fight: Unclear Tests for New Drug." It details
the issues with interpreting Her2 staining and the continuing issue with
disparate results from different labs when doing ER, PR and Her2
Has anyone seen or heard of problems with Grocott Methenamine Silver staining
for fungi on decal tissues? Specifically, background or false positives? I
can't find anything in any books that gives any indications to not use decaled
tissue.
Thanks!
Tim Morken
Supervisor, Histology / IPOX
UCSF M
Thanks Sara, I'm glad you find it useful. I give out the spreadsheet to anyone
who wants it and you can pass it on to whoever wants it. It was part of several
NSH workshops I and Jan Gardner gave on cost accounting so those who attended
those workshops received a copy of it as well.
Tim Morken
Hi all,
For any lab using the Dako Artisan for special stains, have you documented time
savings using the Artisan over manual methods? Any info you have will be helpful
Tim Morken
Supervisor, Histology / IPOX
UCSF Medical Center
San Francisco, CA
___
" I was introduced the color world of Histology, when I was about 7 or 8. "
That reminds me of when I first brought my daughter to the lab. She was about 6
and one of our pathologists was there. He asked if she wanted to see anything
and she piped right up "I want to see some brains!" So he took
Sally, I started in Electron Microscopy after taking a two-year EM course at
Delta College in Stockton, CA. I had never seen a histology lab before starting
work at Valley Medical Center in Fresno, CA. I gradually started helping out in
histology when I didn't have enough EM work to keep me busy
Jeff, Do they give any references for the effectiveness of their proposed
method?
Tim Morken
Supervisor, Histology / IPOX
UCSF Medical Center
San Francisco, CA
-Original Message-
From: histonet-boun...@lists.utsouthwestern.edu
[mailto:histonet-boun...@lists.utsouthwestern.edu] On B
, February 07, 2010 7:55 AM
To: Morken, Tim; 'Pat Laurie'; histonet@lists.utsouthwestern.edu
Subject: RE: [Histonet] Slide baking before IHC
I concur with Tim, this paper is a good reference for slide drying temps, as
with everything else there is no rule that works for every antigen, I play
i
Here is the reference:
Effect of Slide Drying at 80Deg C on Immunohistochemistry
A.F. Henwood
J Histotechnology, VOl. 28, no. 1, March 2005
If you are an NSH member you can email the NSH office and ask for a pdf reprint.
The author compares heating the slides at 80C for seven hours to one hour a
Cryostat decontamination references:
Decontamination for HIV
Frozen Section Technique for Tissues Infected by the AIDS Virus, Swisher, B.L.,
Ewing, E.P., J Histotechnol, V9, No.1, p.29 (March 1986)
Recommends 95% ETOH (other publications referenced here indicate 95% alcohol is
effective against
They mean "buffered." It's a poor translation from Italian/Spanish/portugese
(BTW, found this answer on Histonet!!)
Tim Morken
Supervisor, Histology / IPOX
UCSF Medical Center
San Francisco, CA
-Original Message-
From: histonet-boun...@lists.utsouthwestern.edu
[mailto:histonet-boun...@
Good luck!
But I suggest not getting the Lee Luna text. Unless they have a new edition
with corrections, the original edition, which I have, does not have a table of
contents and has extensive page number errors in the index making much of the
information unavailable. Luna also had an unfortuna
I assure you "floaters" are not trivial in a diagnostic setting. Imagine a case
biopsied for suspected melanoma. The tissue appears clear of melanoma but on
the edge there is a small piece that is suspicious. But other slides do not
show that piece and it is not in the block. Was it cut through?
Kim, for 11 years I attended all kidney bx's and determined their adequacy.
It's not too hard, though you do have to take responsibility for asking for
another stab if what they have gotten is no good, or too little.
Tim Morken
UCSF
From: histonet-boun..
Yes, the website seems to be down.
Tim Morken
-Original Message-
From: histonet-boun...@lists.utsouthwestern.edu
[mailto:histonet-boun...@lists.utsouthwestern.edu] On Behalf Of Alyssa Peterson
Sent: Friday, December 18, 2009 5:53 AM
To: histonet@lists.utsouthwestern.edu
Subject: [Histone
Kim,
Test a random sampling (10%) of the antibodies and see if they work. If so,
then they are most likely fine. Document the test. Antibodies are very robust
and the warmup probably won't damage many, if any, of them.
BTW, When I worked for an antibody manufacturer I did a test once as part o
The disclaimer is only for ASR antibodies. They don't have to be labeled
"experimental" because a CLIA certified lab has full capability and authority
to validate any antibody they want to use for any purpose. You do have to
document your validation procedure and results.
You can also use RUO a
health.org]
Sent: Friday, November 20, 2009 8:55 AM
To: Morken, Tim; Mike Pence; Lynette Pavelich; histonet@lists.utsouthwestern.edu
Subject: RE: [Histonet] Preventing slide labeling mistakes
If the matching is done at the time of sectioning, i.e. making sure the
block you are about to cut matches
@lists.utsouthwestern.edu; Morken, Tim
Subject: RE: [Histonet] Preventing slide labeling mistakes
You must match your blocks and slides. This will eliminate a lot of your
mistakes/ NOT ALL!
Mike
-Original Message-
From: histonet-boun...@lists.utsouthwestern.edu
[mailto:histonet-boun
Hi, Can people share their procedures for preventing manual slide labeling
mistakes? No need to include barcoding - we are exploring that but it is a ways
off.
We currently have a manual process:
We prohibit pre-labeling slides in batches (many blocks/slides at one time),
require labeling slide
Galina,
Get a FLUKE 51-2 electronic thermometer, then get the thermocouple that detects
below -100C.
Thermocouple Temperature
Measurement accuracy:
Above -100 °C (-148 °F)
J, K, T, E, and N-type** ±[0.05% + 0.3°C (0.5°F) ]
R** and S-type** ±[0.05% + 0.4°C (0.7°F) ] Below -100 °C (-148 °F):
J
I'm sorry to hear that. I met Russ several times at NSH over the years and had
several email correspondences with him. He was always helpful and a great guy.
Tim Morken
Supervisor, Histology / IPOX
UCSF Medical Center
San Francisco, CA
-Original Message-
From: histonet-boun...@lists.u
I am reposting this because I didn't get any responses and am hoping for some
info from other JC-inspected labs
Tim
*
Hi all,
Our Joint Commission audit was just completed (first time for JC for me). We
passed almost everything fine.
The one thing they came up w
Or it could not handle the hot air in the admin office!
Tim Morken
-Original Message-
From: histonet-boun...@lists.utsouthwestern.edu
[mailto:histonet-boun...@lists.utsouthwestern.edu] On Behalf Of Blazek, Linda
Sent: Thursday, October 22, 2009 12:15 PM
To: 'Breeden, Sara'; histonet@lis
Hi all,
Our Joint Commission audit was just completed (first time for JC for me). We
passed almost everything fine.
The one thing they came up with is that we don't use "negative controls" for
most of the special stains - like trichrome, congo red, etc. We use negative
controls for micro-organ
Test
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Histonet@lists.utsouthwestern.edu
http://lists.utsouthwestern.edu/mailman/listinfo/histonet
Our Joint commission audit was just completed (first time for JC for me). We
passed almost everything fine.
The one thing they came up with is that we don't use "negative controls" for
most of the special stains - like trichrome, congo red, etc. We use negative
controls for micro-organism cases
Hi,
We're looking for rectangular containers to transport Sakura tissue processor
cassette baskets filled with wet-tissue cassettes. The container has to be
water-tight as it will have formalin in it. Is anyone using a container that
fits those criteria? Everything we've tried so far leaks (var
Hi, We’re looking for rectangular containers to transport Sakura tissue
processor cassette baskets filled with wet-tissue cassettes. The container has
to be water-tight as it will have formalin in it. Is anyone using a container
that fits that criteria? Everything we’ve tried so far leaks (vario
Brett, how long? I've left them overnight before proceeding without any
problems.
It would not be "re-fixation" as with formalin. However, if it is in a
detergent buffer it might cause some other kind of denaturation.
Tim Morken
Supervisor, Histology / IPOX
UCSF Medical Center
San Francisco,
Norm, if someone is really serious about destroying their slides, they could
check out the SlydeEater. I haven't seen it for real but it appears to do an
impressive job!
http://www.ramflat.com/slydeater.html
Tim Morken
UCSF Medical Center
San Francisco, CA
-Original Message-
From:
Technologists can certainly be trained to do the scoring properly but our
pathologists score them and are fully involved in the evaluations, as well as
reviewing challenge slides for submission. There are also sometimes
interpretation questions that have to be done on-line that the pathologists
Akemi,
We follow pretty much what you outline below. I believe following strict and
comprehensive validation will save you headaches later on. You want to 1)
convince yourself that the antibody works as advertised and as expected
according to the literature and 2)Identify and solve any technica
Merced wrote: " I forgot to mention. An LED can be made to excite FITC, DAPI,
and Cy5
(far-red) fluorophores, but they cannot make them in the red (Alexa Fluor
555, Cy3, TRITC, etc.) This is per our Zeiss rep."
I'm not sure why the Zeiss rep said that. Maybe Zeiss itself does not carry the
Necat,
The advantages of LED's are:
1) The wavelength is pure in the spectrum the LED is designed for while mercury
are quite variable across their spectrum.
2) LED's last many thousands of hours - in the range of 20,000 to 50,000 hours
for most uses. This alone will lead to major expense re
Maybe it is the acetic acid in Bouin's that is the "active ingredient" for dye
adherence!
Tim Morken
Supervisor, Histology / IPOX
UCSF Medical Center
San Francisco, CA
-Original Message-
From: histonet-boun...@lists.utsouthwestern.edu
[mailto:histonet-boun...@lists.utsouthwestern.ed
Diagnostic BioSystems is www.dbiosys.com and not .net.
- Original Message -
From: "Morken, Tim"
To: "Margaryan, Naira" ;
Sent: Monday, August 03, 2009 3:16 PM
Subject: [Histonet] RE: reagents for IHC
For IHC ancillary reagents (buffers, diluents, AR reagents)
For IHC ancillary reagents (buffers, diluents, AR reagents), most of which are
interchangeable, try the smaller companies, Biocare, Diagnostic Biosystems
(dbiosys.net), Cell Marque, Lab Vision (now under Thermo, www.labvision.com),
Scytek, among others. They are usually much cheaper since they a
Try this website for ideas...
http://www.mnmicroscopy.org/ProjectMicro/Welcome.html
Tim Morken
Supervisor, Histology / IPOX
UCSF Medical Center
San Francisco, CA
-Original Message-
From: histonet-boun...@lists.utsouthwestern.edu
[mailto:histonet-boun...@lists.utsouthwestern.edu] On
Bless your li'l ol' hearts y'all, we wouldn't dream of it! However, I will
accustom myself to grits and okra before leaving for Birmingham!
Tim Morken
UCSF Medical Center
San Francisco, CA
-Original Message-
From: histonet-boun...@lists.utsouthwestern.edu
[mailto:histonet-boun...@lis
a.gov]
Sent: Thursday, July 02, 2009 9:41 AM
To: Morken, Tim
Subject: RE: Licensing
Tim,
Per our Laboratory Field Services Program, AB 2156 (Niello, Chapter 319,
Statutes of 2006) was signed into law in 2006. This bill specified that a
Pathologist's assistant had to be certified by a speci
The eosin does not affect antibody binding but might interfere with
interpretation if they are doing multi-immunostaining on prostates and use a
red chromogen. Then the eosin may give an appearance of background. Or maybe
they just don't like the color introduced.
Tim Morken
Supervisor, Histolo
TF,
Two things you can do;
If you are using a chromogenic system (not fluorescence) you can use DAB as the
first chromogen. The DAB polymerized product will cover the first primary and
prevent cross-reaction.
Or, if using IF you can use unlabled Fab fragments to coat the first primary.
For
Victor wrote:
"Go to Ace Hardware and get each employee one of these...
http://www.acehardware.com/product/index.jsp?productId=1286367&cp=&fbc=1&pg=3&kw=level&lmdn=Price+Range&fbn=StorePrice%7CUnder+%2425.00&fr=StorePrice%2FACE%2F%2F2500&parentPage=search&searchId=37640061873
"
Y
For all my friends and acquaintances on Histonet, please note I have left
Thermo Scientific and am now at University of California San Francisco Medical
Center.
My contact information:
Tim Morken, HTL (ASCP)
Supervisor, Histology / IPOX
UCSF Medical Center
Box 1656
1600 Divisadero St.
San Franc
PBS with calcium and magnesium is Dulbecco's PBS and was developed
specifically to do work with live cells to mimic body fluids. It is not
necessary for fixed cells or tissue.
Tim Morken
Technical Support Manager
Immunohistochemistry
Anatomical Pathology
Thermo Fisher Scientific
-Origin
Hi, does anyone know of a reference or service lab that does immuno staining
for PDGFR-a,b (platelet derived growth factor receptor alpha and/or beta.
Please note my new street address and phone number
Tim Morken
Technical Support Manager
Immunohistochemistry
Anatomical Pathology
Thermo Scienti
There is also an online course available from Darton College, Darton Georgia.
Tim Morken
-Original Message-
From: histonet-boun...@lists.utsouthwestern.edu
[mailto:histonet-boun...@lists.utsouthwestern.edu] On Behalf Of Rene J Buesa
Sent: Thursday, February 19, 2009 5:56 AM
To: histo
Uh oh, here we goagain!
It's just demand and economics in most areas. In the San Francisco area good
luck finding a certified tech. They can command 70K with minimal experience,
which is what Kaiser and the UC medical center are paying. I know one woman who
was working for a service lab in
Just a note, Leica is not affiliated with Lab Vision, but is affiliated with
Vision Biosystems.
Lab Vision/Thermo Fisher Scientific does not carry lambda or kappa ISH probes.
Tim Morken
Technical Support Manager
Immunohistochemistry
Anatomical Pathology
Thermo Fisher Scientific
-Original
Unfortunately, "Expiration Date" is required by FDA/IVD and European CE/IVD
mark. No one is going to touch that one due to liabilities to a laboratory of
re-validating "expired" reagents.
Tim Morken
Technical Support Manager
Lab Vision Products
Anatomical Pathology
ThermoFisher Scientific
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