Biological specimen handling apparatus and method

Abstract

In accordance with one aspect of the invention, a mold is provided for receiving a tissue specimen and molten embedding material that improves the ease of withdrawing the embedded tissue specimen. The mold has a barrier coating intimately bonded to one or more surfaces of the mold that repels the attraction of the embedding material to the one or more mold surfaces and produces a positive meniscus of the embedding material in the mold. The barrier coating permits the mold to be re-used without needing to manually re-apply a release agent to the mold before using the mold. Further, the barrier coating permits the use of more aggressive draft angles than conventional molds by reducing the frictional engagement between the embedding material and the mold cavity surfaces.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method comprising:
 inserting a tissue sample into an embedding material in a mold, the mold comprising a bottom wall and sidewalls defining an interior volume, wherein the mold comprises a paraffin resistant material coating on a portion of the bottom wall and sidewalls.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising, inserting a cassette into the embedding material. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein prior to inserting the tissue sample into the embedding material, introducing the embedding material into the mold. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 3 , further comprising inserting a cassette into the embedding material. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 4 , wherein inserting a cassette follows the inserting the tissue sample, and the introducing of the embedding material comprises introducing an amount of embedding material such that the cassette is welded to the embedding material without the need for introduction of additional embedding material. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 3 , wherein the embedding material has a property to harden to a solid following introduction into the mold. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising removing the embedding material from the mold. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 7 , wherein the embedding material has a property to harden to a solid following introduction into the mold and the method comprises removing the embedding material from the mold prior to hardening to a solid. 
     
     
         9 . A method of making a tissue embedding mold comprising coating a portion of a bottom wall and sidewalls defining an interior volume with a paraffin resistant material. 
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 9 , wherein the sidewalls comprise primary sidewalls and the bottom wall comprises a primary bottom wall and comprises a cavity including secondary sidewalls and a secondary bottom wall defining a plane different than a plane of the primary bottom wall. 
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 10 , wherein the secondary sidewalls extend at a draft angle of 0 degrees to 2 degrees relative to a perpendicular projection from the secondary bottom wall. 
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 10 , wherein the paraffin resistant material is coated on the secondary sidewalls and the secondary bottom wall. 
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 11 , wherein the paraffin resistant material comprises an oleophobic material.