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Question: what is the differnce in looks between cancer cells and the cells in our body
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Asked by renhares1 to Sam on 3 Jul 2012. This question was also asked by hphillips102, xibarber123, samthescienceman.Question: what is the differnce in looks between cancer cells and the cells in our body
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Comments
Jonathan commented on :
Great answer Sam. Would you like to say a bit more about how those cells get from the patient to you looking at them through the microscope…
Sam commented on :
Thanks Jonathan. Well, when the sample has been taken from the patient, it is sent to the histopathology lab for processing. Small pieces of tissue can be processed straight away. Large tissues need to be “dissected” – that is cut into smaller pieces, and some of these smaller pieces are selected for processing. Processing the tissue in the lab makes it able to be cut into very thin slices (a few thousanths of a millimetre thick!) that are put onto glass microscope slides. These tissue slices are so thin that they are see-through, so they need to be stained with dyes so that I can see the cells with a microscope. Looking at cells with a microscope is something I find fascinating.