During Childhood Cancer Awareness Month, we’re taking you behind the scenes at the Greehey Children’s Cancer Research Institute to show how our researchers and Core & Research Services work together to advance childhood cancer research.
Sometimes, the next breakthrough starts with simply seeing what is happening inside a tumor.
That’s where the Greehey CCRI Histology Core comes in.
🔬 Turning Tissue Into Answers
Histology is the study of tissues at the microscopic level. For cancer researchers, those microscopic views can reveal important clues about how a tumor grows, how its cells are organized, and how it responds to treatment.
The Histology Core helps researchers turn tissue samples into high-quality slides and images for microscopic study.
Its services include:
- Tissue processing and paraffin embedding
- Sectioning of tissue samples
- H&E and specialized staining
- Immunohistochemistry
- Frozen sectioning
- Tissue microarray construction
- Microscopic and digital imaging support
These techniques allow researchers to examine tumor structure, identify specific proteins and biomarkers, and measure biological changes caused by experimental treatments.
🎗️ Why It Matters for Childhood Cancer
A potential therapy may look promising in an experiment, but researchers still need to know what it actually does inside a tumor.
Did cancer cells die?
Did the tumor change?
Did a particular protein increase or disappear?
Did the treatment reach the biological pathway researchers were targeting?
Histology can help provide those answers.
By comparing tissue before and after treatment, scientists can see evidence of how a tumor responds and determine whether a potential therapy deserves further study.
🧩 One Piece of a Much Larger Research Puzzle
Histology rarely works alone.
A discovery made through genomic sequencing or target discovery may eventually move into laboratory models for testing. The Histology Core can then help researchers examine those tissues and determine what changed.
That ability to connect molecular discoveries with what is happening inside actual tissue is an important part of moving research from an idea toward a potential new treatment.
At Greehey CCRI, our Core & Research Services give scientists access to specialized expertise and technology that would be difficult for individual laboratories to maintain on their own.
And sometimes, the evidence pointing toward the next breakthrough can be found on a microscope slide.
Because behind every slide is a question. Behind every question is a child waiting for better answers.
🎗️ This Childhood Cancer Awareness Month, we’re showing you the science behind the gold ribbon.
LEARN MORE: gccri.uthscsa.edu/services/histology/
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