Animal Histology Core

The Animal Histology Core (AHC) offers research animal histology services to Tufts University and Tufts Medical Center investigators as well as external users. Services include frozen sectioning, tissue trimming, and routine tissue processing, paraffin embedding, sectioning, and staining. The AHC also has a cryostat for investigators’ unassisted use after they have received training. Lauren Richey, DVM, PhD, a board-certified veterinary pathologist, directs the AHC, and Nathan Li, an American Society for Clinical Pathology–certified senior histologist, provides consultation, training, and histology services.

Consultation and Training

The AHC recommends contacting Richey or Li during the planning stages of new studies for advice on optimal tissue collection, fixation, specimen trimming, and submission. “The information you get from a histology slide is the result of not just what happens in the histology lab but also, significantly, of the study design, tissue collection technique, and post-collection handling of tissue,” says Richey. AHC staff can provide assistance with all stages of a histology project, from the development of a histology budget for a grant application to training to full histology and pathology services.

Histology preparation workshops are offered every other month in the histology facility on the Boston campus. “We recommend that all new lab members who plan to use our histology services take the free tissue preparation workshop,” says Li. “I also can provide personalized training and troubleshooting assistance either in the histology facility or in a researcher’s own laboratory.”

Contact Information

For consultation, training, and information on services, please contact Nathan Li at (617) 636-5664 or nathan.li@tufts.edu. Nathan will walk you through the new online submission form and provide you with the fee schedule and laboratory policies. The AHC recently moved to a larger, newly renovated space in the Ziskind Building of the Tufts Medical Center complex.