Histology

Jackie Linehan j.linehan@prion.ucl.ac.uk Tel: 020 7679 5032 Courtauld Building, Room 501B  • PubMed •

The Histology Facility is an essential and key service for the MRC Prion Unit at UCL. It processes ca. 3,000 paraffin/frozen blocks, and analyses ca. 4500 histological slides annually. Projects require a panel of immunohistochemical stains for analysis, which include study of novel mouse mutants with complex or subtle phenotypes. Histology is critical in providing vital insight into relationships between prion strain and host, in particular with sensitive or mutated form of the prion strains, which are undetectable by other methods. Many of the Research Programmes rely heavily on our expertise to add weighting, clarification and endorse research findings.
The spectrum of diseases analysed by this facility has expanded beyond prion disease and now includes analysing Cerebral Amyloid Angiopathy in our Alzheimer models. The Histology Facility also works closely with the UCL Professor of Neuropathology providing a diagnostic post mortem and clinical biopsy service to the Division of Neuropathology and the National Prion Clinic.