Join Us in Dublin for a Free One-Day Masterclass on Multi-Organ Tissue Slicing
We’re excited to announce a one-day masterclass hosted by Precisionary Europe at our Dublin facility on Thursday, July 2, 2026. The event brings together a leading researcher in the gut-brain axis, live hands-on time with the Compresstome VF-510-0Z, and a full day of methodology discussion across some of the most active areas in translational biomedical research. Attendance is free.
Why This Masterclass
Fresh, viable tissue slices are quietly enabling some of the most exciting work in biomedical research. Gut-brain studies are revealing how the microbiome shapes neurodegeneration. Precision-cut tumor slices are replacing cell lines in drug screening pipelines. Human lung slices are redefining how we study respiratory disease ex vivo. Brain electrophysiology depends on slice quality in ways that can make or break an entire experimental series.
What these fields share is a methodology problem: getting consistent, intact tissue from multiple organs, sliced at the resolution the biology requires, without the chatter, compression artifacts, or viability loss that derail downstream analysis.
This masterclass was designed for researchers who are working across organ systems and want both the scientific perspective and the practical methodology to do it well. Whether you’re optimizing an existing slicing workflow or building one from scratch, the day is structured to give you something concrete to take back to the lab.
Keynote: Dr. Yiying Zhang, Harvard Medical School / Massachusetts General Hospital
We’re honored to welcome Dr. Yiying Zhang — Assistant Professor of Anesthesia at Harvard Medical School and Assistant Investigator in the Department of Anesthesia, Critical Care and Pain Medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital — as our keynote speaker.
Dr. Zhang’s research sits at one of the most compelling intersections in modern neuroscience: the relationship between gut microbiota dysbiosis and delirium. Her work has reshaped scientific understanding of how the gut microbiome and its metabolites regulate neuroinflammatory pathways to confer neuroprotection — findings with direct implications for aging, perioperative care, and neurodegenerative disease. She currently serves on the Society for Neuroscience Program Committee through 2028 and brings a rare combination of bench-level rigor and translational vision to her work.
Dr. Zhang is among the most decorated early-career researchers in her field, with recent honors including:
- 2025 Young Investigator Award — International Digestive Disease Forum
- 2025 Borten Family Foundation Junior Researcher Award — American Delirium Society
- 2024 Early Career Researcher Award — Alzheimer’s Association ISTAART
- 2023 & 2024 Junior Faculty Research Award — Association of University Anesthesiologists
- Best Clinical Research Award — MGH / Harvard Medical School
In her keynote, Dr. Zhang will share the latest data on how gut microbiota and microbial metabolites regulate neuroinflammation, strategic approaches to designing multi-organ tissue experiments, histological techniques that support that work, and her perspective — informed by her role on the SfN Program Committee — on the scientific priorities shaping the next era of neuroscience. She will also speak to career strategy and mentorship for researchers navigating high-pressure academic environments.
Hands-On with the Compresstome VF-510-0Z
George Kong (President, Precisionary Instruments) and Felipe Lino Xavier (European Product Manager) will lead a live demonstration of the Compresstome VF-510-0Z — the vibrating microtome built for fresh, viable tissue work across brain, liver, lung, tumor, gut, and cardiac applications. This isn’t a passive demo. Every attendee will have time at the instrument.
The hands-on session will cover:
- Live demonstration of the VF-510-0Z with 1 µm automatic thickness precision
- Hands-on instrument operation for all attendees
- Agarose embedding and 360° tissue support — the technique behind chatter-free slices across brain, liver, lung, tumor, and gut
- Workflow consultation for preserving membrane integrity at high slice speeds, tailored to your tissue type
- Direct conversation with Dr. Zhang and the Precisionary team on your specific experimental design
The VF-510-0Z was designed specifically for multi-organ applications, and the methodology session will reflect that — covering the tissue-specific considerations that researchers in different fields often have to piece together on their own. We’ll cover brain and gut tissue in the context of Dr. Zhang’s keynote, as well as lung, liver, tumor, and cardiac applications for attendees working in those areas.
Who Should Attend
This event is open to researchers at any career stage working in:
- Neuroscience, neurodegeneration, neuroinflammation, and the gut-brain axis
- Oncology and patient-derived tumor slice (PDTS) drug screening
- Pulmonology and precision-cut lung slice (PCLS) work
- Cardiac slice methodology
- Hepatology, gastroenterology, and multi-organ disease modeling
- 3D model systems — researchers evaluating native tissue approaches alongside organoids or organ-on-chip platforms
Graduate students, postdocs, and technicians who run tissue workflows in any of these areas are especially encouraged to attend. The hands-on format is designed to be useful regardless of your prior experience with vibrating microtomes.
Event Details
- Date: Thursday, July 2, 2026 | 9:00 AM – 5:00 PM
- Location: Precisionary Europe — Landscape House, Landscape Road, Churchtown, Dublin 14, D14 A6P3
- Cost: Free — lunch and coffee provided
- Format: Hands-on; seats are limited — register early
Reserve a spot here: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/masterclass-on-tissue-slicing-tickets-1989297085132?aff=oddtdtcreator
We look forward to welcoming you to Dublin for what we expect to be one of the most practically useful days of the year for tissue slicing researchers in Europe. If you have questions ahead of the event, reach out to us at info@precisionary.com.