Penn Center for Musculoskeletal Disorders

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Histology Core

Overview and Mission

The mission of the Penn Center for Musculoskeletal Disorders (PCMD) Histology Core is to provide comprehensive, high quality histology services to musculoskeletal researchers at the University of Pennsylvania and the broader research community.

The Specific Aims of the core are:

• To provide guidance and training on the capabilities, advantages, and disadvantages of the various methodologies to assess musculoskeletal tissue structure and composition through formal educational enrichment programs and one-on-one interactions.
• To provide expertise and service for histological and histomorphometric assays of musculoskeletal tissues.
• To develop new histologically-based techniques that will be applicable to musculoskeletal research.
• To provide funding for development of new projects and collaborations and to develop preliminary and/or feasibility data for investigators.

Services Offered

The core offers a complete spectrum of services from sample preparation and processing, to sectioning, staining and analysis, with capabilities for paraffin, plastic and frozen histology. The core provides state of the art equipment in each of these areas, which can be accessed either on a self-service basis (upon completion of training) or a full-service basis through our full-time histology technician. Service fees are highly competitive, with significant discounts offered for PCMD members.

• Consultation and protocol development (no charge)
• Paraffin processing and embedding
• Paraffin sectioning
• Plastic sectioning
• Frozen sectioning
• Routine histochemical staining
• Training in histology techniques

If you are using the core for the first time, we highly recommend scheduling a meeting with one of the core co-directors and/or the core technical director to discuss the scope of your project and specific needs.

Personnel