The laboratory habitat
Our work is to obtain a wax-embedded (or a frozen) small specimen of an organ, in such a way being able to cut it in thin (2-4 µm) sections, which will be subsequently stained and observed with a microscope.
Our usual work instruments are, among others, the microtome (or the criostate) and the light microscope.
We use also, but only for selected topics, a confocal laser scanning microscope, with which we can observe fluoro-chromed histological and cytological details.
We have sometimes the need to measure micro-anatomical details, and so we develop histometrical techniques, possibly accompanied by statistical evaluation of the evidenced quantitative data.