Core Facilities & Services Histopathology Facility
The Histopathology Facility (HP Facility) provides histopathological services and training opportunities to the IRB Barcelona scientific community and to external public and private research centres, thus applying its expertise to offer customized and cost-effective support.
The HP Facility offers a wide variety of histological studies, ranging from routine techniques and services to the development of new approaches (IHC, IF,…), experimental pathology studies, reports, and consultancy services (mouse phenotyping, animal models of disease, drug efficacy and non-GLP toxicity studies).
Facility staff are also involved in the organisation and provision of specialised courses and master’s degree in Laboratory Animal Pathology and Toxicology.
For more information, please contact the facility manager at
The preparation of histology slides involves several processes, including staining sections of biological tissue after they have been mounted onto slides.
Ki67 staining in paraffin-embedded human colonic adenocarcinoma tissue by immunohistochemistry.
Immunohistochemical staining of paraffin-embedded human.
- Rodent histopathological studies and reports:
- Assistance with protocol study set up (experimental design) and development
- Mouse phenotyping
- Animal models of disease (inflammatory, autoimmune, neoplastic)
- Drug efficacy
- Non-GLP drug toxicity
- Whole rodent necropsy, tissue collection, gross examination with report.
- Training in necropsy techniques, including blood collection and perfusion
- Training in necropsy techniques, including blood collection and perfusion
- Fixation of cells, tissues and organs
- Trimming, freezing and embedding of tissues for histology
- Paraffin-embedded and frozen sections
- Routine Hematoxylin and Eosin staining of sections
- Specialised histochemical staining of sections (e.g. Trichrome, PAS, Pearl´s, and many other stains)
- Immunohistochemistry (IHC) and Immunofluorescence (IF) studies
- Digital image scanning and image analysis
Tissue-Tek VIP Vacuum Infiltration Processor – Sakura:
Automated tissue processing for histopathological procedures.
RM2255 Rotary Microtome – Leica:
Motorised sectioning of paraffin- and resin-embedded specimens.
CM1950 Cryostat – Leica:
Sectioning of frozen sections.
CoverStainer – Dako:
Automated H&E process, from baking, dewaxing and staining through to slide dehydration, coverslipping and drying.
Artisan Link Pro – Dako:
Automated instrument for complex special stains.
AutostainerPlus – Dako:
Automated immunohistochemical, immunocytochemical and immunofluorescence staining method.
DM1000 LED bright field microscope with ICC50 HD digital camera – LEICA:
Brightfield microscope with LED illumination for standard applications.
Nanozoomer 2.0HT – Hamamatsu:
Digital slide scanner that converts glass slides (bright field and fluorescence) into high-resolution digital data by high-speed scanning.
