Association for Biology Laboratory Education

Using a (patho)histology lab to teach cell & molecular biology concepts
    

A. Daniel Johnson & Halle Stump

Advances in Biology Laboratory Education, 2026, Volume 46

https://doi.org/10.37590/able.v46.art27

Supplemental Materials: https://doi.org/10.37590/able.v46.sup27

Abstract

This workshop demonstrated activities & resources from a newly launched lab course that uses diseases as an organizing theme to teach cellular, molecular biological & histological concepts. Lectures use 6 diseases to explore how these concepts interact over time. In lab students learn to extrapolate two-dimensional information from histological tissue sections to three-dimensional tissue structure, and how disease changes tissue structure. In the first half-semester students learn basic general histology. Next, they explore complex tissue organization and slides showing known histopathologies; these include the 6 diseases discussed in lecture, plus tissues from 2-4 related but unknown disease states. They must identify and document abnormal changes in the unknowns relative to matched normal control tissues. For a final project, each student presents their observations and interpretation of one of the unknowns to the class. Workshop participants completed parts of 3 exercises from the lab showing how students explore normal histology, a known disease, and unknown diseases. Supplements include example course documents and an expanded course outline.

Keywords:  histology, pathology, cell biology, molecular biology, disease processes

University of Manitoba (2025)