Mouse Histology and Phenotyping Laboratory

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Mission

The Mouse Histology & Phenotyping Laboratory (MHPL) at the Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center (RHLCCC) of Northwestern University provides customized histology, molecular phenotyping and pathology services for various non-clinical animal research models. Through the years, the breadth of MHPL services has grown for the analysis of diverse organs and tissues from a wide range of species of experimental animals used in biomedical research (e.g., mouse, rat, rabbit, pig, dog, sheep, zebrafish, insect larvae, coral). The MHPL provides histopathology and phenotyping consultations to biomedical researchers to help develop efficient strategies to elucidate animal traits and gain in-depth mechanistic insights regarding the biologic actions of experimentally targeted genes and proteins or the pharmacologic effect or toxicity of exogenously administered substances. As a core facility, the MHPL serves as an important resource for investigators and their teams on how to integrate histopathology and phenotyping analyses to advance their own research endeavors.

Services Offered

• Organ/tissue processing and embedding (paraffin or frozen blocks)
• Microtomy (paraffin, cryostat, or vibratome sectioning)
• Routine hematoxylin and eosin staining (H&E) of tissue sections
• Various special histology staining of tissue sections (e.g., Masson’s Trichrome, Verhoff’s Elastin, Reticulin Stain, Giemsa, Cresyl Violet, Periodic-Acid Schiff, Iron, Jones Methanamine Silver)
• Chromogenic immunohistochemistry (IHC, single or duplex)
• Multiplex immunofluorescence (IF)
• TUNEL assay
• Lectin or enzyme histochemistry
• In situ nucleic acid hybridization (chromogenic or multiplex fluorescent ISH, e.g., RNAscope, miRNAscope, BASEscope)
• Co-detection of nucleic acids and proteins (combined ISH and IHC/IF)
• Whole-mount optical clearing of tissues and organs for fluorescence microscopy (X-CLARITY)
• Consultations and guidance for dissections, necropsy, developmental biology, and histopathology
• Professional pathologist assessments/interpretations (provided by Dr. Ahrendsen, a board-certified pathologist specializing in anatomic pathology and neuropathology)