A freeze dryer for rapidly and efficiently drying tissue specimens, having a source of heat independent of the cover and mounted for efficient heat transfer to a copper support plate having a substantially flat top surface. A specimen plate is machined from aluminum to have a recessed bottom surface which is matable with the support plate for maximum physical contact. The specimen plate has peripheral walls of a thickness and a height that will eliminate substantially all heat differentials between different portions of the specimen plate interior caused by external variations to allow effective control of the temperature of the specimen plate.

An apparatus for quick freezing tissue specimens has the advantage of precise predictable embedding orientation. The apparatus includes embedding wells, chucks and over-chuck cooling blocks. Additional components include a cooled cutting board, freezing plate griddle and elevated freezing block. Tools created to use with the system include a dislodging bar, a spatula/pry tool, a dispensing slide and a flattening tool. The combination of these elements function at -25 to -30 degrees C. to precisely prepare tissue specimens for frozen sectioning. The apparatus can be cooled and adapted by several methods: (1) as a stand-alone bench top cryoembedding station refrigerated by compressor and Peltier devices: (2) as modular portable units cooled in a separate refrigeration device such as a cryostat or freezer; and (3) built into cryostat work chambers as part of the internal embedding center.