We just need some pictures--easy right? Considerations for planning an immunohistochemical project

As a pathologist at a university hospital, I am often asked by colleagues doing research to lend my expertise in immunohistochemistry and in evaluating histological sections. After more than 10 years of experience and many such encounters, I wrote a lecture entitled, "We just need some pictures--easy, right?--the role of immunohistochemistry in research projects." I give this lecture regularly for a multiple staining course in the Netherlands. I made some changes to the lecture when I was invited to speak at the National Histochemical Society meeting in September 2008. This is a summary of that talk.