Module of Pathology and Molecular Diagnostics
- General pathology: molecular basis of cancer.
- Pulmonary pathology: obstructive pulmonary diseases (chronic bronchitis, asthma, emphysema); restrictive lung diseases; pulmonary & pleura neoplasms.
- Intestinal pathology: malabsorption diseases (celiac disease); chronic inflammatory bowel diseases (Crohn's disease, ulcerative colitis); polyps of the colon and rectum; familial adenomatous polyposis; malignant tumors.
- Ovarian pathology: ovarian cysts, polycystic ovary syndrome, stromal hypertecosis; ovarian tumors (epithelial, germ cell, stromal and sex cord tumors, metastatic tumors).
- Skin pathology: melanoma, sentinel lymph node.
- Inflammatory pathology of the breast; benign epithelial lesions, fibroepithelial lesions, breast carcinoma, prognostic factors, sentinel lymph node.
- Molecular pathology: DNA and RNA extraction; PCR; Gene sequencing.
Module of Histopathology Techniques
- Optical Microscopy
- Acceptance of biopsy samples, macroscopic evaluation of the surgical samples, and extemporaneous examination
- General principles of the main techniques of fixation, of tissue processing, of the embedding procedures and sectioning of the paraffin-embedded blocks
- Sectioning and staining protocols
- Staining methods: hematoxylin and eosin and some frequently used histomorphological, histochemical and special staining techniques
- Tissue processing: pitfalls and technical artifacts
Module of Immunohistochemistry and Molecular Techniques
- Principles of the immunohistochemical staining
- How to set up a histological sample for the immunohistochemical staining
- Types of antibodies and methods for the production of monoclonal and polyclonal antibodies
- Physico-chemical properties of the antigen-antibody binding: causes of the antigen unbinding and methods to optimize the use of the immunoreagents
- Antigen identification through immunodetection systems
- Antigen retrieval methods: procedures using heat and protein digestion
- Principal immunohistochemical staining methods
- Pitfalls and technical artifacts in immunohistochemistry
- Application of immunohistochemistry in human pathology
- Tissue Microarray (TMA) sample preparation
- Methods for automatic sample preparation and analysis
- Diagnostic roles of the molecular biology techniques (i.e., FISH, CISH and RNAscope methods) in human pathology
- Use of the cDNA and RNA microarray technology for the study and characterization of tumors
Module of Cytopathology Diagnostic Techniques
- Exfoliative, abrasive, and aspirative cytology
- Collection, storage, fixation and dispatch of the cytological material
- Acceptance of samples, preparation, fixation and staining of the cytological samples
- Differences between thin layer cytology and conventional smear cytology
- Instruments in the diagnostic cytopathology lab
- The Papanicolaou stain
-Cytopathology of the female genital system.
- Role of the PAP test in screening programs for the early diagnosis of cervical cancer.
- Application of molecular methodologies in cytology
