[Histonet] Flat Ice???

Hello! I would greatly appreciate any tips or tricks to getting ice to freeze flat in the pan! We are tired of opening the freezer to see mountains that have formed in our pans overnight, making it hard to try and fit all the blocks we need to microtome on them. We have two freezers and they bot

[Histonet] Re: Recycled Formalin

We recycle formalin, xylene and alcohol and they all turn out very nicely. We use the CBG Biotech formalin and solvent recycler and then assay/test each batch and return the formalin back to 10% NBF by adding either distilled water or formaldehyde depending on what end it came out on and then ad

Re: [Histonet] Re: CBG BIOTECH RECYCLER

Michelle,   The xylene purity test is a very simple. Using a 100 ml graduated cylinder. You just add 85 ml of recycled xylene making sure the bottom of the meniscus aligns right at the top edge of the 85 ml mark and then 15 ml of distilled water, making sure the bottom of the meniscus aligns w

[Histonet] Re: CBG BIOTECH RECYCLER

We use the CBG Biotech Recycler to recycle formalin, alcohol and xylene and they all turn out very nicely. We always assay/test each batch to make sure it is ok to use. The xylene always comes out at 99.9% and we use it on all stations of our processor and to stain with and have no problems. We

[Histonet] Specimen Storage

I work for a research company and am looking at ideas for storage of specimens. We currently use Bitran bags to keep the extra parts with some formalin and then heat seal them in the Kapak heat seal bags. The Bitran bags are getting so expensive and tend to leak. Does anyone have a better system

[Histonet] Help with McDowell and Trump's Fixative 4F:1G for EM samples

Hello!  Can anyone give me some info on McDowell and Trump's fixative?  We have a protocol that requests the formulation of 4F:1G of McDowell and Trump's fixative that we are going to be collecting electron microscopy samples in.  Does anyone know if this is a specific formulation that must be m

[Histonet] Leica RM 2155 vs RM 2135

I am trying to decide on a new microtome for our lab and would like to hear from anyone that has used a Leica RM 2155.  I have a RM 2135, but have carpal tunnel, so I am thinking of going with the automatic.  I am just concerned I might not like it since I am so used to the manual and like to be

[Histonet] Re: processing mouse seminal vesicles

Try this processing schudule for mouse tissue:   70% 15 min 95% 15 min 95% 15 min 100% 15 min 100% 15 min 100% 15 min 100% 15 min Xylene 15 min Xylene 15 min Paraffin 15 min Paraffin 15 min Paraffin 15 min Paraffin 15 min   Good luck! Susan Bincsik         Does anybody have a protocol for this?  My