[Histonet] RE: slippy floors due to paraffin

[Osborn, Sharon]

Histonetters,
	One way that we discovered to cut down on the amount of paraffin on
our floors was to change our method of trimming excess paraffin off the
blocks before microtomy.  In addition to changing our method, we also
eliminated a major cause/stressor of repetitive motion syndrome.  We had
been using a knife to scrape off the paraffin from the sides and ends of the
blocks after embedding and before microtomy so they would more easily fit
the chuck.  (and to keep the chuck from becoming loose so it would not well
hold a block over time due to irregular sizing of blocks because of the
paraffin on edges).  We purchased the Thermo (Shandon) Electron Para
Trimmer.  Our paraffin particles on the floor has greatly reduced; our hands
are not so tired from the manual scraping, etc.  One caveat...you must
remember to turn off the paratrimmer for it is a heated instrument and can
burn.  It is a life saver in reducing floor slippage and repetitive motion
syndrome...outweighs our forgetting to turn it off..:-)

sharon osborn
DNAX, SP BioPharma
Palo Alto, Ca


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