Zeiss LSM 510 META Confocal
Cell
Biology Microscopy Suite Operating Policy
A responsible and
courteous approach to the operation, cleaning & reserving of resources
and to other users of the facility is expected. The booking calendars
list booked users' contact information to help with scheduling and coordinated
powering down of the equipment as well as notification to users of unscheduled
instrument downtimes.
General:
• Only users who have completed the introductory training for each resource from
Tim Oliver may operate equipment and book time. The instruments are only available
to Cell Biology primary and secondary appointment faculty and their immediate
lab members.
• Users must use only their own Windows account on the individual computers at
each workstation.
• Use of another user's account will result in being barred from the facility
and having the account disabled.
• After hours access to the facility is available to trained users. Please see
Tim Oliver to have your ID card activated for the doorlock
• Entry doors are to be kept closed when no users are present in the facility,
especially at the end of the day and after hours.
• Users must notify staff about viable pathogens or biohazards before they are
brought into the facility.
• Users must not install software on facility computers.
Training:
Each user needs individual
training from Dr Tim Oliver. That training is personalized to the specific
trainee's biological question. However, from 10-21-04 onwards, a waiver
to the hourly charges will be made for the training of graduate students
and postdocs associated with labs of primary and secondary appointment
PIs in the Cell Biology Department. Training will wherever possible generate
usable data for the PI. Training includes a minimum of background optics
theory essential for the operator to make informed decisions about necessary
instrumental parameters and essential settings on the microscope. Training
can typically be expected to occupy two 3hr sessions of one-on-one instruction,
but may be more or less time, depending on the comfort level of the trainee
and the complexity of the task. It is incumbent on the trainee to follow
up training with independent study in order to reinforce the training
experience and become competent and confident enough to work unsupervised.
Booking:
• Equipment may be
reserved using the online booking calendars
In order to use the on-line reservation system you will need a password.
See Dr. Tim Oliver or Mark Langan to set this up. You will be required
to enter personal contact information to make a reservation, as before,
in order to facilitate user exchanges and positive interaction between
the fifty or so current account holders.
• Walk up use by qualified users is permitted. Please enter yourself in the appropriate
booking calendar immediately, so that others can know the resource is being used.
• The on line booking calendars are the arbiter of who has use of the resource.
Finishing Up:
• Lower lens turret and wipe off lenses and objective bodies withQ-tips (never Kim Wipes) before leaving.
• Log off computer workstations when finished. Usage charges will continue to be incurred if you do not.
• Power down system appropriately and in consideration of next confirmed user's arrival time.
• The last user that is, or was, booked for the day is responsible for ensuring that the system is powered down.
• Removing oneself from the booking page does not absolve the responsibility of ensuring that the booked system is shut down. If you are off site please call the facility to make sure equipment will be powered down, or if necessary you must go to facility to ensure equipment is off.
• Please notify staff of breakages or problems.
• Failures, accidents, and even mistakes do happen. Notifying staff expedites repairs, and would rather know about incidents promptly.
• Make sure entire area is clean before leaving.
• Biohazards and other toxic waste must be properly disposed of. Please plan to back up your data and be off the instrument in good time for the next user.
File Storage Policy:
• You alone are responsible for your image files. Backups of user files are not made for users, except by individual users themselves. On most workstation computers, files will self-erase after a period of time. This janitorial software is activated on a revolving 24 hr cycle, searching for files older than 2 weeks. Files not removed after this time are subject to unscheduled erasure.
• Users must not install any software on any facility machine. Please let us know about software requirements.
No show Policy:
• Users not appearing within first 10 minutes of their reservation time will be deemed "no-shows" and forfeit their right to that slot if someone else decides to take it. In addition, a log entry will be made for the total anticipated time reserved for that no-show session, with the users name and the words "no-show." PIs may receive notification that their users are accumulating "no-shows".
• No charges will be incurred until the 3rd consecutive no-show in a calendar year. On the third and subsequent no-show, all no-show reservation time accumulated will be due, and will be charged to that user's account at the current rate at the next billing cycle.
Hourly rates for instrumentation:
• The current rates are posted here.
last updated 10-21-04
Zeiss Axiovert 200mot multidimensional time lapse workstation, “Cell Motel”
Leica ASMDW inverted multidimensional cell/tissue environmental time lapse workstation with spinning disk confocal (coming soon, expected mid August)