Histology Core Services

Lions Gift of Sight provides a range of high quality specimen preservation and customized histology services to eye researchers around the world. We partner with the Histology lab at the University of Minnesota’s Vision Core facility. Heidi Roehrich, MS, has managed the Histology Core Facility at the University for more than 20 years.

Contact us

If you are a researcher interested in our Histology Core Services, please complete our Research Tissue Application. We will review your request, provide an estimate and contact you to submit your samples. 

Areas of expertise

  • Embedding (tissue sectioning, paraffin and O.C.T. compound)
  • Frozen tissue processing and sectioning (human and animal) 
  • Specialized in processing and sample preparation of neuronal, soft and bone tissue
  • Sectioning and whole slide images suitable for publications and quantitative analyses
  • Staining (H&E, Immunofluorescence)
     
Image showing drusen deposits on retina
H & E staining of an Age-Related Macular Degeneration (AMD) donor eye sections shows prominent drusen deposits present in the retina and Retinal Pigment Epithelium (RPE)
Cryosections of human whole eye
Cryosections of a whole human eye
Histology slide sections
Human primary cultured limbal epithelial cells; Alcine-stained mouse intestine; zebra fish retina (H&E)
Mouse and human eye sections
Mouse retina (H&E); Human AMD retina with Druisens; mouse retina whole mount (CNV model)

Facility equipment

  • EVOS XL Core
  • HISTOCORE ARCADIA H Paraffin
  • Keyence BZ-X800 All-in-One Microscope
  • LEICA CM3050 S Cryostat
  • LEICA RM2255 Microtome
  • LI-COR ODYSSE F Infrared Scanner
  • BioRad IQ4 qPCR cycler
  • Nanodrop spectrophotometer
  • -80oC deep freezer
  • High-resolution Bright Field Microscopy
  • Nano F Fluorescence plate reader

Our leadership and experience

Heidi Roehrich

Heidi Roehrich, MS, brings extensive knowledge in tissue procurement, preservation, tissue processing for paraffin and cryo-sectioning and other embedding techniques. Her specialization includes basic and advanced histological stains, immunohistochemistry and immunofluorescence. 

“Beyond the routine work, I really enjoy designing assays, seeing projects through and thinking creatively to move the research forward,” she said. 

Heidi recently developed a working protocol for whole frozen human donor tissue sections, with excellent preservation. This allows researchers to improve their molecular analysis and an increased antibody penetration.

Her longstanding scientific expertise is featured in more than 35 publications in peer-reviewed journals. She holds a Masters in Biology, Microbiology and Soil Sciences. 

Questions

Contact us at [email protected].