John Cator Email & Phone Number

Milton Keynes, United Kingdom

Harlow

I carry out dissection of IBMS category B and C specimens. I am currently working towards the Diploma of Expert Practice in Histological Dissection.I have completed an external course in urine cytology and have been assessed internally and approved to report out negative and non-diagnostic urines, this involved a lot of time learning the morphology and characteristics of malignant urothelial cells and knowing when to refer cases to a pathologist if there were atypical cells… Show more I carry out dissection of IBMS category B and C specimens. I am currently working towards the Diploma of Expert Practice in Histological Dissection.I have completed an external course in urine cytology and have been assessed internally and approved to report out negative and non-diagnostic urines, this involved a lot of time learning the morphology and characteristics of malignant urothelial cells and knowing when to refer cases to a pathologist if there were atypical cells seen.I have been responsible for re-patriating a number of IHC antibodies. This has involved sourcing and getting quotes with discounts of best performing antibodies, optimization of the concentrated antibody and validation of the final dilution/retrieval method against a number of positive and negative cases. Control tissue procurement and making/testing of these multi-tissue blocks is also part of my role, ensuring appropriate tissue is available for IHC controls is extremely important, a good supply of excess surgical tissue is needed but also some archived blocks would require authorisation before being used.Stock checks and ordering of supplies forms a part of my role, ensuring there are enough daily consumables is important, I have had to source alternatives when there are delays. Chasing older orders is also an important part of what I do, because there is no communication between the lab and supplier sometimes it is necessary to investigate delays. Show less

London, United Kingdom

Luton, United Kingdom

I rotate around the main lab which includes specimen receipt, changing of processor reagents, embedding, sectioning, special staining, performing frozen sections, block checking, case verification, allocation of work to consultants and H&E/special stain EQA's.I also rotate into the IHC lab where there are two Bond III's, there is a steady workload of approx 80-100 slides per day, as the lone member of staff in there I am responsible for prioritising workload, setting up the machines… Show more I rotate around the main lab which includes specimen receipt, changing of processor reagents, embedding, sectioning, special staining, performing frozen sections, block checking, case verification, allocation of work to consultants and H&E/special stain EQA's.I also rotate into the IHC lab where there are two Bond III's, there is a steady workload of approx 80-100 slides per day, as the lone member of staff in there I am responsible for prioritising workload, setting up the machines, antibody dilution, checking of control tissue, case verification and troubleshooting any issues.I am the non-gynae cytology lead BMS, as a lone worker in there I am responsible for organising the workload, setting up staining machines, preparation of all specimens from receipt through to verification. I am also solely in charge of the non-gynae EQA and trouble shoot staining issue when they occur.Key achievements:- Embedding, sectioning and staining of specimens. - Trained to perform a wide range of immunohistochemistry tests on the Bondmax and Bond III autostainers. - Became lead biomedical scientist in Cytology- Perform frozen sections on urgent biopsies as required.- Train new members of staff in the different sections of the lab.- Carry out tissue transfer and cut-up of smaller complex cases. - Participate within specimen audits undertaken in the lab.- Responsible for IQA and EQA schemes for both Histopathology and Cytology. Show less

Master Of Science (Msc), Cellular Pathology, Merit

Modules covered included cytopathology, immunopathology, molecular science and genetics, non-neoplastic and neoplastic disease changes.

Bachelor Of Science (Bsc), Biomedical Sciences, General, Upper Second Class Honours Degree

The three years were quite generic as the degree was based on getting the student an overall knowledge of the pathways they could go down.