Pilot Study


Send us your slides, and we’ll complete a comprehensive pilot study for you; providing an objective analysis of your tissue thickness and staining penetration, outlining sampling parameters and counting procedures, and providing you with the knowledge and confidence you need to collect the remainder of the data yourself. Our staff includes experienced Ph.D. research scientists who are experts with stereology methodology, our software, and who have demonstrated experience in neuroscience research applications.

Using a technique created at MBF and adapted from Slomianka and West (2005), we will calculate an adequate sampling fraction based on the section thickness, section interval, and the frequency of the objects to be counted within your tissue. We can also empirically determine the appropriate guard zones for your tissue. This data will be provided to you with the return of your slides in a report detailing how the parameters were chosen. Additional support as you begin your work is also available; we can walk you through your first counting procedure or even audit your work to ensure that data collection is proceeding as expected. Confidence in the technique will translate to confidence in the results.

A properly designed stereology pilot study will reduce time, effort, and costs for the overall experiment by optimizing the sampling parameters to identify how many sections are needed (and therefore generated and stained) to obtain a result with adequate precision.

Of course, if you want to outsource your complete study, we would be glad to help you with that as well.

Please click here to download and complete the MBF Labs Work Proposal Questionnaire. When completed, save the document and email your attachment to the MBF Labs staff.