Sep 17, 2025

Public workspaceLiver Tissue Tissue Microarray (TMA) Embedding and Sectioning --University of Minnesota TMCs

DOI
https://dx.doi.org/10.17504/protocols.io.n2bvje89ngk5/v1
  • Elizabeth Schmidt1,
  • Laura Niedernhofer1
  • 1University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN
  • Cellular Senescence Network (SenNet) Method Development Community
Allie Abdellatif
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DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.17504/protocols.io.n2bvje89ngk5/v1
Protocol Citation: Elizabeth Schmidt, Laura Niedernhofer 2025. Liver Tissue Tissue Microarray (TMA) Embedding and Sectioning --University of Minnesota TMCs. protocols.io https://dx.doi.org/10.17504/protocols.io.n2bvje89ngk5/v1
License: This is an open access protocol distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License,  which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited
Protocol status: Working
We use this protocol and it's working
Created: August 07, 2025
Last Modified: September 17, 2025
Protocol Integer ID: 224263
Keywords: liver tissue tissue microarray, proteomic platform, tma
Funders Acknowledgements:
NIH
Grant ID: 5U54AG076041-04
Abstract
Construct TMAs compatible for multiple spatial transcriptomic and proteomic
platforms.
Guidelines
Ethics Statement:
This protocol requires prior approval by the users' local Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC), Institutional Review Board (IRB) or equivalent ethics committee(s), depending on the source of the tissue.
Materials
FFPE tissue blocks with sufficient tissue (width and depth) for TMA construction
Beecher Manual Tissue Arrayer (MTA-1)
Biopsy punch (2 mm)
Troubleshooting
TMA dimensions are determined based on the area requirements of all planned spatial platforms.
The smallest capture dimension of all the spatial platforms for the multiplatform
experiment was 6.5x 6.5 mm. It was determined that four x 2 mm tissue cores
with 2.8 mm spacing could successfully fit within these dimensions.
Selection of tissue core from each FFPE tissue block
H&E of each tissue block for the TMA was examined by pathologist and 2 mm
area determined and annotated on the FFPE block.
2 mm cores removed from FFPE block using biopsy punch
TMA construction
The Beecher Manual Tissue Arrayer (MTA-1) was used for TMA construction.
Four tissue cores were embedded in a paraffin block in a column/ grid
format.
To aid in orientation, a 0.6mm core of pig tongue tissue was included as a
marker.

Example Liver TMA H&E