The question of how to embed frozen tissue without melting is asked  from
time to
time. Noelle raised it with reference to a biopsy she received that was
frozen in a centrifuge tube.

Those who have the Instrumedics Oil Accessory Kit can embed the frozen
tissue in an oil, which is stored in an oil bath inside the cryostat. The
oil  is at -8deg. C  and is liquid. The oil only freezes at -10deg C.

The cold  oil can be transferred to a chilled mold and the frozen tissue
oriented in the liquid oil. The tissue will not melt!  The mold is then
placed on the cold bar for freezing the oil embedding medium.

The oil block sections just as OCT or CryoGel does. This is a method used in
several labs with the Tape-Transfer system.

Bernice
schiller@instrumedics.com