Head: Finn P. Reinholt, M.D., Ph.D.

The laboratory for electron microscopy has 3.6 positions (head of the laboratory (0.2), two part-time consultants (0.4), 1 PhD (0.2) and 2.8 bioengineers). The laboratory is by far the largest diagnostic EM laboratory in the country performing analysis of in the order of 700 patient samples of a year. Among these are about 600 complete ultrastructural analyses. The samples are from in- and outpatients at Rikshospitalet-Radiumhospitalet Medical Centre as well as from other hospitals in the health region. The laboratory shares equipment and premises with the

University of Oslo/Rikshospitalet-Radiumhospitalet Core facility for EM and is located at the M-floor of the A-building at Gaustad. The premises include 7 laboratories/heavy equipment rooms and the equipment includes 2 electron microscopes with digital cameras, an automatic embedding devise, two ultrotomes and 3 microtomes/tissue block trimmers along with other necessary smaller equipment units.

The laboratory is run according to GLP guidelines and international recommendations within the different diagnostic areas. Furthermore, work has started to obtain accreditation according to ISO 15189.
In addition to the diagnostic work, the laboratory is running quality assessment projects and methodological development. At present a larger inter-Nordic project is run in cooperation with laboratories in Stockholm, Gothenburg, Lund and Odense. The aim of the project is to work out a common procedure for measurements of glomerular basement membrane thickness and to define limits for normal values in the Nordic population.

Activity in 2006 and 2005 for comparison