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To: CMIF USERS
From: Richard Burry, Ph.D., CMIF Director
Effective Date June 1, 2009
CMIF Procedures & Policies Announcement
Use of Equipment:
Please contact either Brian Kemmenoe or Richard Montione at (614) 292-9786 or Contact us by email if there is ANY problem with the equipment!
We encourage the independent use of the instruments; however, all unassisted use must have the approval of a CMIF staff member.
Approval for after-hours use is restricted to experienced users who have demonstrated a high degree of proficiency and independence on a given instrument, and is at the discretion of the staff. A minimum of 12 sessions are required prior to consideration of granting after-hours privileges.
Equipment (and the room) should be left clean, operational, and in the standard configuration. Time required for clean up after a user may be billed to the user.
Users may not change default settings on any instrument. Users doing so will be charged for any time necessary to correct the problem and may have their use of the instrument restricted.
Damage to instruments by the users that is not covered by service contract may be billed to the Principal investigator.
Sign up:
Users should visit the CMIF website , select "Schedule Equipment" and log in/register to reserve time. Select a microscope, choose the date and request the time. Sign up is on a first-come, first-served basis.
Booking limitations – No user may book more than 3 hours in a normal business day or more than 3 days in a week without obtaining permission from the CMIF staff.
Late/cancellations – If a user must cancel their signed microscope time, do so in a timely manner so other users can use the instrument. Failure to do so will result in a charge for the scheduled time. Users who are more that 20 minutes late will forfeit their time if there is someone waiting and may be charged for the time.
Users are expected to vacate the equipment promptly at the end of their scheduled time, leaving the room and equipment clean and in the proper configuration.
Payment / Billing:
Payment for services at the CMIF requires a completed 100W with complete chart field information and a valid signature at the time of service.
Training:
Confocal Microscope training – Persons wanting to use the confocal microscope unassisted must first attend the training seminar given monthly followed by sessions of individual instruction. There are no exceptions to this rule.
Transmission and Scanning Electron Microscope training – Training is done on an individual basis.
Faculty and students should not provide initial training to other users.
Users must follow all instructions of the CMIF staff.
Samples/ Hazardous Materials:
Any hazardous material (whether biological or chemical) must be pre-approved by Environmental Health and Safety where applicable. We are not equipped or certified for work with radiation, human tissue or live pathogens. No Radioactive material is allowed to be used.
The SEM and TEM are very sensitive instruments. Some samples are not suitable to put in the microscopes. Special care should be taken with materials that could be ferrous / magnetic. It is therefore important to consult with CMIF staff before putting a new type of material in the microscope.
Data Storage:
Users are responsible for their own data!
Data and images collected on the local hard drive should be transferred to portable media promptly. Images on the hard drive longer than 24 hours may be deleted without notice. Users should bring a flash drive or a CD/DVD to their session to take their data home with them.
Naming format – Data should be saved in a folder under the name of the Principal investigator.
Processing of tissue for TEM and SEM is by appointment. Samples should be received in the lab by Thursday morning to allow time to complete sample processing. Allow a day and a half before holidays for processing.
Acknowledgements:
In all publications, acknowledge the Campus Microscopy and Imaging Facility at The Ohio State University. Please let us know if you have publications acknowledging the CMIF and provide bibliographic reference or a PDF of the paper. Acknowledgments are necessary to justify our existence.