Tissue Microarrays (TMAs)

Tissue Microarray (TMA) is a powerful method for high throughput and uniform analysis of single/multiple biomarker expression on large number of tissue samples enabling researchers to keep pace with the rapid process of lead discovery. TMA based studies also allow for the study of sample heterogeneity by quantifying marker(s) at various parts of a tissue sample or among samples. Such analysis provides more complete biological characterization of a drug effect and is critical for disease biomarker discovery. 

Hundreds of minute tissue samples on a single TMA block help to overcome limitations including limited patient sample sizes, and limited availability of reagents such as antibodies. This method helps to identify, and characterize molecular targets, validate their clinical relevance in multiple tissue samples and correlate the results with clinical outcome.

Applications:

• Biomarker discovery
• Predictive tests
• Prognostic studies
• Patient selection for trials
• Primary evaluation of drug targets / effects

TMA Services:

• Design of and performing the experiment
• Isolation of specific tissue samples and tissue processing
• Tissue embedding and preparing TMA blocks
• Tissue sectioning / TMA slide preparation
• IHC, IF, as well as FISH analysis