[Histonet] Science fair student help

[Douglas Gregg]

A big thank you to Heather Marlatt for a "Care" package of practice blocks,
accidentally mislabeled plus-slides, cover slips, and aqueous eosin to help
my 14 year old student to get started on cutting and staining. Castoffs are
always welcome. We are starting today to cut the practice blocks and do
some staining. I found a crock pot at the thrift store to use for a warm
water bath to float tissue sections. You have to be inventive with a home
lab.

Joe is joining the NY Histotech Assoc. too. By the time he gets to college,
he will have a some good experience and maybe job offers in labs. That is
his hope. He will certainly qualify for a work study job.

Doug Gregg
Veterinary pathologist

On Tue, Feb 23, 2016 at 10:59 PM, Douglas Gregg <classicdoc at gmail.com>
wrote:

> Hello,
> I have not been on this forum for some time, but still follow it. I am a
> retired veterinary pathologist. Last year I posted an idea for a freshman
> in high school who wants to do a serious science fair project. He is
> already beyond high school science level. His father found me because I
> have been a science fair judge for many years at a nearby school district.
> At first, I declined, citing that I was retired and did not have a good
> project for him. Later I thought about a recent study I read about honey
> bees being infected with an Iridovirus. That caught my attention because I
> did my dissertation and worked for about 10 years on African swine fever
> (ASF) caused by an Iridovirus (now renamed but only moved to a branch
> classification by itself). It is the only mammalian Iridovirus disease.
> Through mass spectrograph studies, and subtraction analysis of normal bee
> data from collapsed colony bees, the US Army found the fingerprint of a
> likely Iridovirus infection in colony collapse syndrome. No one has yet
> confirmed this by other methods that are more conventional and it has not
> been fully accepted due to the new technology used to find it.
>
> So I suggested to Joe, that he could attempt to identify the virus in bee
> larva tissues using histology to find inclusions and immunostaining using
> Vector staining system. I used immunostaining through most of my career and
> was one of the first to identify a virus infection (ASF) with Vector
> staining systems back in the early 80s.
>
> I have a microtome and a few paraffin mold trays and a few plastic
> paraffin tissue holders left over from a consulting project 6 years ago.
> What he will need is some paraplast, more plastic molds, a few metal trays,
> Harris hematoxylin, eosin, slides, coverslips, permount and later PBS, Tris
> and  a Vector ABC AP kit which I am very hopeful can be donated by Vector
> when we get that far. I know histo labs often have lots of old unused
> supplies around that don't necessarily fit into current routines or
> machines. If any of you have such supplies that could be used for very
> manual processing of tissues, they would be greatly appreciated. A warm
> water bath is needed too but we can improvise, if necessary.
>
> Having reviewed the literature on honeybee colony collapse syndrome and
> comparing the pathogenesis with African swine fever, an Iridovirus
> infection of bees is a very good fit. I think there is a very high
> likelihood that this could be a big breakthrough in the honey bee collapse
> problem that thus far has not been answered with the many hypotheses
> suggested. This is a worldwide problem that threatens the world food supply
> and must be understood and controlled soon. As a onetime bee keeper, it is
> close to my heart.  I hope some of you can help Joe get into histology.  He
> is very eager and this could possibly lead to a scholarship or at least a
> workstudy position during college in a histolab someday. Due to the
> recession, his family can't support this project. He has gotten some small
> monetary support from a local bee keeper as well as help acquiring bee
> larva from colonies.  I am giving him space to set up a lab in my basement
> and the necessary solvents, etc and lots of training. This is a very
> ambitious project but I think it can be accomplished. He has 2 or 3 years
> to get it finished, and hopefully published. Any help would be appreciated.
>
> Any ideas for crowdsource funding would also be appreciated.
>
> Douglas Gregg DVM, PhD
> Retired - Plum Island Animal Disease Center
> Southold, NY 11971
> classicdoc at gmail.com
>