Histopathology

The Histopathology Unit is a fully equipped laboratory that provides high-quality histopathological services and pathology support to the IGC scientific community and to external users (associate laboratories, academic institutions, and industry).
The Unit’s staff is highly qualified and has large experience in working with a diverse range of samples from humans to model organisms such as mouse, fish, fly, plant, amphibian as well as scaffold membrane, spheroid and organoid culture.

Location: Main Building
Contacts: +351214407919 @: [email protected] ; [email protected] ; [email protected]

Histopathology Unit Specific Terms of Use and General Information

The Histopathology Unit at the Instituto Gulbenkian de Ciência is accessible to all users, including external scientists and corporations; however, we follow a policy where priority is given to in-house scientists and projects. Work is performed in a “first come, first served” basis.
When possible, plan ahead. If an emergency arises, please discuss it with the team, and the team will try to help you.
The Unit working hours are 09:30 - 17:30 from Monday to Friday, during which Facility staff is available to provide aid to users.
If training or help is needed during equipment usage, bookings should be made within the facility working hours.
Projects should be discussed with the staff during the initial experimental design planning to best prevent possible waste of resources.
During this complimentary consultation with the facility staff, proposed projects will be reviewed for feasibility and equipment availability. Furthermore, the purpose and the scope of the project will be discussed, and the level of service determined.
All users (both internal and external) will be charged for consumables, equipment usage, and technical work. Training and technical assistance are complementary. A price list is available upon request and a quote can be provided through our request platform.

New Equipment Users

Before using any of the equipment new users must request a training to the staff, regardless of the level of experience demonstrated.
New users must read and understand the policies described below. Any concerns or questions may be directed to the Histopathology Unit staff.

General Equipment Usage Policies

All users must handle the equipment carefully – when in doubt ask the unit staff for assistance.
All users must leave the equipment clean and ready for the next user.
Local hard disks are not intended for data storage. All stored files are routinely erased to maintain enough free disk space for acquisition. Users are encouraged to remove their data immediately after acquisition. Any data older than 48 hours may be deleted by anyone. The Unit is not responsible for any lost data on the local hard drives.
The same premise applies to the fridge and freezer space. The Facility is not responsible for any lost samples outside the facility workflow.
Accidents happen - if something goes wrong, please report the problem immediately.

Reservations

All equipment must be reserved prior to usage through the reservation website, including afterhours and weekends. There is no limit in the Booking slots, however, if an intense usage is needed, please discuss with the staff how to best proceed.
Using equipment without reservations will be reported to the Head of the Histopathology Unit as misconduct. Repeated offenses may result in loss of privileges to use the equipment.
If a user decides not to use the equipment the reservation must be deleted. Deleting reservations must occur 24 hours prior to the reserved time slot. If reservations are cancelled within 24 hours of usage, cancellation fees may be charged if the instrument remains unused.
If a user keeps the reservation and allows another user to use his/her booking, the first user will maintain full responsibility for the proper usage of the machine during that time.

Publications

Publication and grant applications presenting data e/or methods from the Histopathology Unit should include the following acknowledgement:
"This work was supported by the Histopathology Unit of IGC."
In the event that facility staff has done extensive work and substantially contributed to the success of the project, authorship should be considered regardless of if it was a paid service. We advised that this is discussed on a case-by-case as early in the project as possible.
We thank you in advance for contributing to the success of our facility!

Responsibility

It is the responsibility of each principal investigator to ensure that all members of their laboratory comply with the policies described herein.

EQUIPMENT

SERVICES

Services are performed by our technicians and some equipment is available on a self-service basis* (training and validation required).

Paraffin, Gelatin, O.C.T. (Cryo), Resin- Technovit Methyl Methacrylate 7100

Microtome, Cryostat*, Vibratome*

▪ Stereology
▪ Image analysis (macro library available)

Slide scanner

USEFUL RESOURCES

Before submitting a request, feel free to come by the Unit or contact us to discuss the best procedure that suits your project. It is highly beneficial to discuss your project and experiment models with our Pathologist before initiating Histology sample collection. We believe that communication, proper planning, and preliminary discussion usually precludes the waste of valuable resources such as time and animals. All requests, including quotes, tasks and bookings, should be submitted through the Agendo platform.