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 paraffin blocks, facing donor blocks and evaluating best sites for transfer, and TMA design, construction, sectioning, and staining. Fees for TMA construction are based on technical support time and supplies.

Please contact us at molecular@pathology.ufl.edu before submitting the TMA Request form.

Using an HE stained slide of the donor block for guidance, the area(s) of interest is removed as a core with the appropriate sized needle and transferred into the recipient block (4 block holder available). The block is stored at -20 until slides are needed. Slides are further coated with paraffin to maximize stability. TMA slides can be stained as for any regular 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 3x3 TMA (Spleen, Pancreatic lymph node, Thymus): HE stained image; CD3 IHC

Human brain tumor TMA (Dr. T. Yanchis): HE stained images at each objective

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

Other resources for TMA information:

Beecher Instruments

Principles, Uses and Construction of Tissue Microarrays in Pathology Research

UVA TMA

Johns Hopkins Pathology TMA Core

Yale Pathology TMA facility