Microdissection is a method to isolate individual or group of cells from tissue sections. This results in preparation of samples of homogeneous cell types that allows performance of sensitive and accurate molecular assays. The unique approach to use laser beam for microdissection was developed in 1996 at the National Institutes of Health and later marketed by Arcturus Bioscience, Inc. The pathology core laboratory acquired PixCell I in 1998 and has recently upgraded the system to PixCell IIe LCM system.
LCM technology from Arcturus allows one to isolate single cells from tissue sections (paraffin as well as frozen) and cytological preparations using a patented thermoplastic film. Using LCM technology, quality material for a wide variety of DNA, RNA, and protein analyses, including RNA expression analysis using microarrays can be obtained.
Pathology core laboratory offers services to prepare tissue sections for LCM and help learn how to perform LCM. The investigators must bring their own CapSure™ and special Eppendorf tubes to obtain and secure microdissected samples for future analyses.
