Sakura Tissue-Tek AutoTEC - Introduction; Safety Precautions; General Description; Location of Major Systems and Components

Section
1
INTRODUCTION
Revised 5/19/2010 1.1
Safety Precautions
WARNINGS, CAUTIONS, and NOTES are provided
throughout this manual to indicate levels of potential
hazards as defined below:
WARNING: Identifies a potential hazard where failure to
follow instructions may result in serious injury or death to
the operator and/or other personnel.
CAUTION: Indicates a potential hazard where failure to
follow instruction may result in damage to the Tissue-Tek

AutoTEC

and/or other property.
NOTE: Indicates a reminder or other helpful information.
General Description
The Tissue-Tek

AutoTEC

is a reliable, high-quality,
precision instrument that fully automates the embedding
process using the innovative Tissue-Tek Paraform
®
Sectionable Cassette System. The Tissue-Tek AutoTEC
embeds diagnostic, human, and research tissue specimens
continuously enabling laboratories to:
 Significantly improve throughput time
 Enhance procedure standardization and specimen
consistency
 Reduce repetitive movement disorders and exposure
to harmful chemicals
 Offer a continuous method of tissue specimen
embedding that eliminates the need to handle
samples in batches
 Automatically embed up to 120 specimens per hour,
which improves productivity
 Enhance efficiency, consistency, and standardization
of laboratory procedures and operations
 Provide robotic precision and consistency, minimize
the bottom paraffin layer, and eliminate excess
paraffin around the cassette border
 Reduce labor requirements
Tissue-Tek Paraform Cassettes are made of two
components, an inner sectionable tissue insert and an
outer frame that provides support when in the microtome
chuck. Paraform Cassettes are placed in up to four 32- or
20-cassette input magazines. The magazines are loaded
with the cassette front surface angled facing up during the
embedding process.
Following a magazine warm up period of 15 minutes, the
instrument’s robotic system:
 Sequentially removes each cassette from the
magazines
 Identifies the type of cassette (standard, biopsy,
orientation, core biopsy, shaved biopsy, or 13 x 13)
 Places the cassette in the properly sized pre-heated
base mold
 Pushes down (stages) the cassette until it reaches
the bottom of the base mold
 Dispenses a precise amount of paraffin to match the
tissue size while holding the cassette in place
The base mold cools to form a solid paraffin block. The
robotic system removes the paraffin block from the mold
and presents it to sensors that verify that a frame is
present and correctly positioned in the robotic gripper, and
that a paraffin block is in the frame. The robotic system
places the paraffin block in one of the four 32-position
output doors.
Each output door can be detached from the instrument
and used as a transport tray to a microtome workstation.
Springs hold the paraffin blocks securely in place while
enabling them to be easily removed.
Location of Major Systems and
Components
The Tissue-Tek AutoTEC instrument is comprised of the
following major systems and components (Figures 1-A
through 1-C). A detailed description is given in the
following paragraphs.