According to the “freezer method,”2the slideshould be placed flat in the freezer as the initial step.Although the original recommendation described a max-imum exposure of 10 minutes t o one hour, in our experi-ence slides can rest in the freezer (at a temperature of220C) for only 1 to 2 m inutes. After removing the s lidefrom the freezer and w earing eye protection, immedi-ately place the tip of a scalpel blade under one corneredge of the coverslip, lift up the coverslip, and remove it.The slid e should be still frozen/cold when using theblade, otherwise the technique will not work. I f the cov-erslip fails to lift off, return the slide to the freezer for anadditional minute. If the coverslip still does not lift offduring that period of time, it may indicate that themounting medium was applied too recently. After thecoverslip has been removed, allow the now uncover-slipped slide to return to room temperature before s oak-ing it in xyl ene for 1 or 2 minutes until the remainingmounting media has been removed. The slide can bethen sent for manual or laser capture microdissection forcollecting cells for D NA extraction.