A Day in the Lab: Dissecting a Brain

✍️ Author: Dr Eleni Christoforidou

🕒 Approximate reading time: 2 minutes

Today's lab activity centred around a delicate and intricate task - dissecting a brain. The brain in question was preserved in a red-pink solution known as the 'dissection medium.' This solution is composed of essential nutrients designed to maintain the health and vitality of the tissue's cells during dissection until they can be transferred to an incubator for further growth. Furthermore, the medium contains a buffer that ensures the pH remains at a physiological level.

It's vital to perform the dissection aseptically to minimise the risk of contamination from bacteria or other potential contaminants. The dissection focused on a specific brain area, which, once isolated, was further dissected into small pieces. These fragments were then subjected to enzymatic and mechanical methods to separate the tissue into individual cells that can be cultured in an incubator.

The process of dissecting a brain is a precise and careful procedure, requiring not only technical skills but also a keen understanding of the brain's complex structures. The isolated cells will provide valuable insights for our ongoing research into brain function and pathology.