IBM (NYSE: IBM) scientists have developed a flexible, non-contact, silicon microfluidic probe to accurately stain tissue sections at the micrometer scale for drug discovery and disease diagnostics research. Tissue staining is widely used in pathology to detect disease markers in a patient’s sample. Traditional staining involves multiple chemical steps and precise exposure times. Mistakes at tissue staining can lead to false diagnoses. Biopsy samples are typically a few millimeters long. Staining is performed on many thin slices of the sample to identify and sub-type diseases.
