Tissue Microarray (TMA) Lab

The major goal of this facility is to provide TMA technology for UF investigators. All services are available from processing samples into donor blocks and evaluating regions of interest to TMA design, construction, sectioning, and staining. Any stain that can be used on a paraffin section can also be performed on a TMA. Fees for TMA construction are based on technical support time and supplies. Individuals can also be trained to construct arrays.

Please contact us before submitting the TMA Service Request form.

Using an HE stained slide of the donor block for guidance, the area(s) of interest is removed as a core from the donor block with the appropriate sized needle and transferred into the recipient block (up to 4 recipient blocks can be made at one time). The block is sealed with paraffin and stored at -20 until sectioned. Slides are sealed with paraffin to maximize stability. TMA slides can be stained as for any paraffin slide.

Routine TMA Configurations

Needle size	Spacing between samples	Array Format	Total # Cores
0.6 mm	0.2 mm	20 x 20	400
1.0 mm	0.3 mm	16 x 13	208
1.5 mm	0.4 mm	11 x 9	99

Representative TMA

Mouse Lymphoid TMA (Spleen, Pancreatic lymph node, Thymus; 3 fixatives): H&E image; CD3 IHC

Human brain tumor TMA (Dr. T. Yanchis): H&E images at increasing magnification

Services:

• Consultations on TMA design and analysis
• Donor block preparation and staining
• TMA construction- training available if you want to make the TMA
• Need animal or human tissue donor blocks? Ask about our paraffin and frozen archives.
  
  Equipment:

• Beecher Tissue Microarrayer (0.6, 1, 1.5 mm punches)
• Four recipient block holder
• Olympus dissection and viewing microscopes
• Aperio GS slide scanning
• Image processing and analysis

TMA Links:

Beecher Instruments Trouble Shooting Guide

Stanford TMA

UVA TMA

Johns Hopkins Pathology TMA Core : Principles, Uses and Construction of TMA

Yale Pathology TMA facility