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Blizard Institute - Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry

Pathology core facility

For all your histology needs

A banner displaying various microscopy images of pathology samples

The Core Pathology is a self funding UKAS accredited medical laboratory (8369) and is a fee-for-service facility providing histopathology services to members of Queen Mary University of London and other academic institutes, as well as providing a diagnostic service to the private sector (for more details on the diagnostic service please see tab below).

Our remit is to advise, support or carry out work for research groups within Queen Mary University of London which ranges from:

Users of the service can select from a number of options to enable them to work to their time and budgetary commitments:

  • Have the entire project completed by the Pathology Core Facility
  • Have the Pathology Core Facility cut the sections for staining in the users laboratory
  • Use the Pathology Core laboratory facilities to carry out the work themselves

It is advised that users come to discuss their project with us as you may wish to use a combination of any of the options above. The department is experienced with human and animal tissue but has had some experience in processing and cutting of different types of material like silk and leather (we will have a go at anything). There is archival animal and human tissue available as control material for optimisations.

The current staff are all biomedical scientists, specialists in histological techniques and are HCPC-registered. They can provide the technical expertise and resources to cover the full range of histopathological techniques. Tuition is also offered in all aspects of histopathological technique as well as supervision and use of facilities once trained. The facility is also able to advise on costing when submitting grants that contain a histopathology element and we recommend that prospective users visit the facility when planning their grant applications.

Each year our reputation for high quality work is spread further in the academic community as researchers move on to new positions resulting in the facility collaborating on projects with:

  • University of Bath
  • University College London
  • Kings College London
  • Guys Hospital.
  • Dundee University
  • Nottingham University
  • Texas A&M University
  • Liverpool University.

All work for the Core Pathology department is now requested through an online ordering system hosted by I-Labs. The link below will take you to the relevant site. If you are an internal user then you will be able to log on with your Queen Mary ID; if you are an external user then you will be required to set up an account and I-Labs will issue you with log in details.

Visit the I-Labs site

I-Labs manuals:

The Core Pathology facility is a UKAS accredited medical laboratory no 8369, HTA licensed and currently processes over 4,000 surgical cases. We have a full team of consultant histopathologists covering all specialities as well as an experienced and efficient team of biomedical scientists. All the biomedical scientists are HCPC registered and participate in CPD activities.

Specialities

  • Dermatopathology
  • Gastrointestinal
  • Hepatobilary
  • Endocrine
  • Male Genitourinary
  • Gynae
  • Lung Pathology
  • Soft Tissue
  • Lympho - reticular
  • Breast
  • Head and Neck
  • Cytology (Non-gynae)

Turnaround times for most cases are 24-48 hours. More complex specimens, and those specimens requiring additional testing, may take longer to produce the final report.

The facility can also carry out sub-specialities through a network of experts which includes:

  • frozen sections
  • immunohistochemistry

Some additional testing may be carried out by referral UKAS accredited medical laboratories.

We can provide a full or bespoke service, tailored to your histopathology needs.

For further details please contact Pauline Levey and Laura Neal by email at core-pathology@qmul.ac.uk.

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