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Top Tip: How to defrost brains for dissection in 1 hour

sheep brain for dissection

This Top Tip comes from Patricia Hugman, Senior Laboratory Technician at St Joseph’s College Toowoomba.  Thank you, Patricia!  This is something we get asked all the time and the collective wisdom of lab techs is the best source of info.

sheep brain for dissection mmmm...... brains!

Have you ever wondered how long it would take to defrost … brains for dissection?

I found the following method for defrosting brains to be very effective & efficient

To defrost brains ‘al dente’ in 1hr

1.       Straight from freezer

2.       Place brains in packet in suitable container & cover with water (4 litre icecream container works well) sitting ‘flat’ not ‘end on’

1pkt/ container defrosts faster that 2 in one container

3.       @20min – Change water

4.       @40min – discard water, remove brains from packet, sprinkle liberally with salt, just cover with water

5.       @50min – gently separate brains, being careful of brainstem/medulla

6.       @60min – carefully remove individual brains, pat dry with paper towel and ‘serve’ to students!

On a nice summer’s day (25deg C) this timing worked a treat. Producing brains that were still firm but not icy.

Sitting on the bench (in air) produced irregular defrosting >4hr

Got a Top Tip you are willing to share with other techs?  Have a squeal to Miss Vivi and see your name in lights.

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Dissection Collection: new dissection guides on Pinterest

Dissection guides on Pinterest pinterest.com/missvivisection

We’ve gathered some new mammal dissection guides on Pinterest for you:

  • Kidney dissection guide
  • Eye dissection guide
  • Heart dissection guide
  • Brain dissection guide

If you’ve found a good dissection guide that you’d like to share with others drop me a line with a link and I will be happy to post it there for you.

Miss Vivi

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The Squeal from Miss Vivi – February 2012

Well hello!

Here we are at the beginning of Term 1 for 2012.  I hope the summer has been kind to you and you're relaxed and raring to go.

Here at Dissection Connection we’re starting the year with a new price list.  You'll find it in the Downloads section of the website.  It’s in a slightly different format, hopefully organised to make it easier to use.  It's now in three section – specimens we try to keep in stock all the time, specimens we supply to order because there hasn't been a very high demand in the past, and specimens that are subject to availability.   Feel free to have a squeal if you have any comments about it.

There are some new dissection specimens really worth squealing about.  We've added a pluck with a pair of joined kidneys in the pack, porcine and bovine uterus are now available as stand alone items, entire piglets – which I've had a big squeal about further down this newsletter – and fresh boar semen just to name a few.

Over Christmas a styrofoam box manufacturer went out of business and consequently the remaining suppliers are having to pick up the slack.  This has meant that there are almost no small boxes to be had for re-use and we are having to buy them new.  They will cost $4.00 each for the time being, but hopefully everything will settle down later in the year and we will be able to start collecting recycled ones again.  The very large boxes we use have gone up to $6.50 each, but we can usually use a different shaped recycled one at a lower cost for you.

This year, too, Mr Vivi will be stepping up and taking on a bigger role at Dissection Connection.  I am still working at school Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays so I can't always answer the phone and sometimes it's just easier to leave it with him rather than keep you waiting.  He's been there from the beginning and he really knows his way around the freezer.

Finally, we're looking for guest writers for the website.  Have a look at the details in the article below.

toy pig

This little piggy…

went to Dissection Connection.  And now it can be sent to you as a fantastic alternative to rats when you need an entire specimen.  Sourced from a farm that is breeding pigs for meat, these piglets are stillborn or smothered by their litter in the stall.  As a specimen they are cheaper, cleaner and even closer to human anatomy than a rat and every piglet that is used in the classroom represents a rat that hasn't been bred and euthanased for science.  We currently have plenty in stock and you can specify which sex you would like – although the ratio of males to females that don't make it through the birth process is quite variable depending on the weather (really).  Keep an eye on the website for articles on these wonderful specimens. 

toy cow

Win a t-shirt

We're looking for guest writers.  If you're interested in being published online, or you know someone who is, send us an article for consideration.  You can write on anything related to:

  • science
  • anatomy
  • dissection
  • top tips for labbies and teachers
  • the state of education
  • or surprise us! 

The author of the best article published on the website in Term 1 will win a Show Us Your Lungs t-shirt.