Paraffin-embedded (FFPE) tissue and TMAs are the standard choice for IHC, ISH, and FISH. They preserve morphology well and allow long room-temperature storage. Fresh-frozen tissue is required when you need intact, high-quality RNA or unmodified DNA for RNA-seq, whole-genome sequencing, or methylation profiling. This is because formalin cross-linking degrades and fragments nucleic acids. Tissue-specific RNA and cDNA preparations are available for expression studies where you do not need the spatial context of a section.
Human Tissue & Biospecimens
Human Tissue Samples for Research
Human and animal tissue sections and microarrays for pathology and molecular research
Your downstream assay depends on the format you start with. Tissue sections and tissue microarrays (TMAs) span many organs, pathologies and species, and fixation method, donor provenance and format each fix your downstream options before the experiment begins.
Paraffin-embedded and fresh-frozen TMAs span FDA-standard normal organ panels, multi-disease comparative arrays, and tumour-specific sets covering organs including prostate, breast, lung, brain, kidney and liver. TMAs are available for normal, diseased and tumour tissue and support applications such as IHC, ISH and FISH. Matched tumour and adjacent-normal pairs and paraffin sections characterised for spatial genomics workflows are also available for your studies.
Tissue-specific nucleic acid preparations complete the biospecimen range for expression and epigenetic studies. These cover total RNA including microRNA, PCR-ready first-strand cDNA, and genomic DNA drawn from normal, diseased and tumour human tissues.
Pathology information such as TNM staging is available for most tissue products. Documentation for ethical approval is provided by the manufacturers.
Choosing your tissue format by application, in this order
1) Routine IHC or ISH antibody validation. A paraffin TMA with broad normal tissue coverage suits this. Multi-tissue organ panels give you broad specificity checks. For disease-specific staining validation, a tumour-type array matched to your indication works best.
2) Multi-marker profiling across many cases. A paraffin TMA with a high number of cases suits the tissue type you need. Arrays are available across many organ types and tumour indications, with varying core counts and annotation depth depending on your study.
3) Molecular work requiring intact RNA. Fresh-frozen tissue suits this. Frozen tissue arrays with matched tumour and adjacent-normal pairs support comparative molecular studies. Tissue-specific RNA preparations are available for individual tissue types. If you need RIN or equivalent integrity data for your assay, please inform us before ordering.
4) Spatial transcriptomics. Paraffin sections characterised for spatial gene expression workflows suit this, available for selected tissue types. You can confirm current section availability and donor specifications before ordering.
5) Cross-species comparison or mouse model. Mouse or rat normal organ panels with multiple donors per tissue type suit this.
Applications
Antibody validation and IHC optimisation
TMAs covering multiple normal tissue types let you test antibody specificity across many tissues in a single staining run, cutting slide use.
Biomarker discovery and validation in oncology
Annotated tumour TMAs with grade and stage data let you correlate protein expression with pathological features across many patient cores.
Comparative molecular profiling
Fresh-frozen sections with matched tumour and adjacent-normal pairs, from our human tissue and biospecimens range, support your RNA-seq and proteomics workflows.
Spatial transcriptomics
Characterised FFPE sections from defined tissue types and donors serve as starting material for your spatial gene expression platforms needing intact RNA quality.
Gene expression and epigenetic studies
Tissue-derived RNA, cDNA and genomic DNA from normal, diseased and tumour tissue support your expression assays with standard nucleic acid purification.
Cross-species and preclinical comparison
Mouse and rat normal organ panels, with multiple donors per tissue type, support your comparative studies alongside human serum and plasma samples.
Product Catalog
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Tissue Sections
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Tissue Microarrays (TMAs)
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Tissue-related Extracts
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Frequently asked questions
TMAs include a data sheet specifying core diameter, number of cores, and tissue types represented. Nucleic acid preparations are supplied with concentration and purity data (A260/A280). RNA integrity (RIN or equivalent) documentation is lot-dependent, so confirm availability with us before ordering if a minimum RIN is required for your assay. Ethics documentation is held by the originating supplier and can be provided on request.
The primary catalogue covers human normal and diseased tissues, including major organs (brain, heart, liver, kidney, lung, colon, breast, prostate, and others) and a range of tumour types. Mouse and rat normal organ panels with multiple donors per tissue type are available for cross-species studies. Contact us for current availability of less common organ types or species.
Standard catalogue TMAs and nucleic acid preparations ship from stock. For custom requirements, such as specific donor demographics, defined disease subtypes, rare organ types, or matched longitudinal samples, contact us to discuss options. Lead times and availability depend on IRB or ethics approval and biobank inventory at the time of your enquiry.
RNA integrity number (RIN) is measured by capillary electrophoresis on a bioanalyzer. It quantifies the ratio of intact 28S and 18S ribosomal RNA peaks. A RIN above 7 is generally accepted for RNA-seq. Values of 3 to 6 may still work for targeted PCR-based assays with short amplicons. FFPE-derived RNA typically yields lower RIN values, so it needs short amplicons or FFPE-optimised library kits. RIN documentation is lot-dependent for catalogue tissue preparations. Confirm with us before ordering if a minimum threshold is critical for your work.
Product catalogs
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Tell us what you are looking for — antibodies, kits, proteins, or supplies — and our team will point you to the best catalog filters, suppliers, and product matches for your workflow.
