Archive

Start here:
The Hidden Judgement Work of Histotechs
Histotechs make invisible judgement calls that determine whether any slide can be trusted.

At the bench:
Two Stations Ahead
Embedding commits an irreversible plane in seconds, and scanners no longer forgive the error.

So Easy A Monkey Could Do It
Satire from the bench: the hardest call is deciding not to cut.

Microtome Mentalist
Sectioning instinct is earned pattern recognition, and automation cuts blind to the variation histotechs read.

Protocol Transfer Is Not Copy and Paste
A protocol carries only the visible steps; the lab conditions and judgment stay behind.

The Last Section: Tissue Stewardship and the Hidden Cost of Block Exhaustion
Every block is finite, and histology absorbs the cost of everyone else's spending.

Tissue as evidence:
Diagnostic Staining and Biomarker Staining Are Not the Same Task
A pathologist absorbs variation a biomarker score cannot, so the same stain demands different control.

A Sampling of Stains and Techniques in Pharma Histotechnology
Pharma stains answer specific defensive questions at scale, ordered to withstand doubt rather than discover.

The Histotech Stack in Drug Development
Histology is layered infrastructure, seven stacked systems converting tissue into defensible data.

Machines at the bench:
AI in Histotechnology: Introduction
A plain-language primer on what AI actually is and where it already touches histology.

AI in Histotechnology: Promise in Research, Friction in the Clinic
AI stalls in clinical labs on reimbursement, liability, and culture, not technical capability.

Charts and diversions:
The Wheel That Slices Gold
A whimsical poem turning the microtome's wheel, ribbon, and stained sections into gold-lit craft.

A Histotechnology Map of Drug Development Infographic
An infographic tracing histotechnology's role from discovery through preclinical, trials, FDA review, and post-market.

Hematoxylin and Eosin Infographic
Infographics tracing the chemistry that makes nuclei blue and cytoplasm pink.

AI in Histotechnology Infographic
Infographics mapping AI across digital slides, quality control, and IHC-driven drug discovery.

Career Path of a Histotechnologist Infographic
A tidy career diagram for a field nobody enters through the front door.

Thin Sections is written by Jerry Clarin, HT (ASCP). The views expressed are his own and do not represent any employer.