Automated microscopy in the life sciences can trace its beginnings to the semiconductor industry. In the 1970’s, automated microscope stages were developed and used extensively for wafer inspection in semiconductor fabrication. By grafting motorized components onto a microscope designed for manual use, automation was achieved. Over time, more functionality became internal to the microscope.

By the 1990’s, microscopes with automated internal controls were commercially available for the life sciences laboratory. A researcher could purchase a microscope with controls that motorized stage movement, the changing of nosepieces, and Z focus. In many ways, this early technology was automation without a clear-cut application. The microscope was motorized, but the software to control it was limited in what it could do.

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J. Dreschler
Leica Microsystems Inc., USA
Scientific and Technical Information
Edition CDR 8, pp. 130–133
October 2005

Morphological classification of epithelial renal tumors has been a debatable field since the first description of Grawitz in 1883. In the past WHO has renounced to subvided renal rumors below the level of adenoma and carcinoma. Recent developments in pathology of kidney tumors brought up a new morphological classification which has been adopted in part by the WHO.

Today we can subdivide the most often appearing epithelial kidney tumors into adnomas of the oncocytic-, papaillary-, and metanephric type and carcinomas of the clear cell-, papillary-,
chromophobe-, collecting duct associated-, transitional cell-, neuroendocrine type, and tubulo-mucinous type, although some additional rare and extraordinary types do exist.

The classification no more includes granular renal cell carcinoma as this phenotype is part of several tumor types mentioned above. Even spindle cell renal cell carcinoma has been cancelled as an entity, as spindle cells are part of the dedifferentiation process which can develop in all types of renal carcinomas.

All kidney tumor types express a specific immunohistological marker profile and show a distinct histogenesis. While clear cell carcinomas and papillary carcinomas are thought to derive from the proximal tubule, oncocytomas and chromophobe carcinomas are related to the collecting duct as it is expressed in the term for collecting duct carcinoma too.

Recent data have shown that each pathomorphological kidney tumor entity expresses specific chromosomal aberrations. These genotypes totally match the mentioned pathomorphological phenotypes. Besides structural and numerical chromosomal aberrations, some basically involved oncogenes and suppressor genes (VHL-gene, metgene) have been described. Putting things together there for the first time, a combined morphological and genetical kidney tumor model is presented, which starts with the cell or precursors in the renal tubular system and progresses via an adenoma stage to a fully developed renal cell carcinoma stage. Although some steps in this model are still hypothetical, it offers a better understanding of the puzzling kidney cancer complex. This view enables future research that can lead to more specific kidney cancer therapies.

S. Störkel
Leica Microsystems Wetzlar GmbH, Germany
Scientific and Technical Information
Edition CDR 6, pp. 83–101
September 2002