Hi,
    Not to support the use of open flame in a lab, (heavens no) but I
think the artifact you were getting from the fried tissue was different
from this one. The pale nuclei described here would pervade all or most
of the tissue not only the area in contact with the forceps. No doubt
that artifact was a mess too.
Amos Brooks

Beverly_Elswick@bshsi.com wrote:

> Hello Histnetters,
> One more observation to add to the issues with small
> specimens and hazy nuclear detail:
> As a new supervisor, I noticed an employee who insisted in
> using an alcohol flame to heat her forceps when embedding.
> As it turned out, she was frying the biopsies when she
> picked them up. I took away the alcohol flame (no flames in
> the lab anyway) and no more problems.
> Hope this helps,
> Bev Elswick
> Richmond VA