Repercussions for violating the policies
For users that doesn’t respect any of these policies, break or damage equipment due to user’s failure to adhere to proper operating procedures, the facility remains the right to seek compensation for damages and deny a user access to any instruments, support, and services and may result in a permanent ban from the LMF.
Development, performance, and evaluation: the checklist
I am familiar with the checklist for tracking LMF development and performance to facilitate future evaluation and enhance future grant submissions when I am using the equipment and services provided by the LMF facility.
Access Policy
All members of the MDIBL scientific community are eligible to use MDIBL LMF equipment. However, before access to the MDIBL LMF will be granted to lab members, new users must fill out the User Registration Form, then she/he must fill out the LMF Work Request (Proposal form) to establish project requirements, expectations, and training needs in advance of access.
The MDIBL LMF encourages users to allow LMF staff to carry out proof-of-principle or ‘pilot’ type experiments and data studies that require the use of the highly specialized instruments residing in the MDIBL LMF. These have a 75% discount to start but if they are successful, users should anticipate a training session.
LMF MDIBL business hours are approximately 8 am to 5 pm Monday to Friday , but there is no guarantee MDIBL LMF personnel will be in the office at any moment. After-hours and weekend access for independent users is allowed though subject to instrument availability and established user proficiency. New users and those that require ongoing assistance of LMF members should schedule their work during LMF MDIBL business hours.
All instruments in the MDIBL LMF were purchased using NIH grant funding that requires equal access for potential users. Access to these instruments may therefore be rationed accordingly.
Billing Policy
Billing details can be found on: fees
The MDIBL LMF charges only 25% of the regular price for training sessions (2h training session). The MDIBL LMF does not charge anything additional for a longer training session as each training session should be customized in its length and depth for each user as well as the validation session (last part of the training).
The MDIBL LMF does not charge anything additional for help sessions as all forms of questions should be encouraged.
However, 3 categories of fees exist depending on the user status: internal, collaborator or external. Status as internal or collaborator should be considered a privilege subject to revoke following failure to adhere to LMF policies.
Training Policy
All users must be fully trained by a MDIBL LMF member prior to using any MDIBL LMF systems. Training is specific to each instrument and must be conducted prior to first use. Users can not train other users on any of the LMF equipment. If a user has prior experience with a certain piece of equipment, training may be truncated, but access can only be granted by a LMF member. Only after completion of instrument training will calendar access be granted.
Each user can fill out the LMF Work Request (Proposal form) for every new project. This form can be used to discuss the future experiment with the LMF staff and ensure that the experiment can be realized in the optimum way. The document is mandatory and the discussion is heavily encouraged for any new imaging project.
Training should be planned a few weeks before the experiment starts to let the user become comfortable and familiar with the system. Non use of the instrument following the training within the next 4 weeks will result in a cancellation of the access.
A summary of each lecture will be provided to the user and the user will must complete a questionnaire before graduating to the next training sessions.
Laser safety instructions and optics protection Policy
When using microscopes equipped with lasers, special care must be taken to avoid laser radiation getting into your eyes or onto your skin. Especially, laser radiation can irreversibly harm your eyes. This relates to all confocal microscopes (Laser Scanning Microscopes).
-For all confocal microscopes, users are invited to not look through eyepieces during any image acquisition involving lasers.
-Don’t touch, tilt or exchange the sample during image acquisition.
– Don’t put your hand into the laser beam. Image acquisition needs to be stopped before the sample can be touched, or removed, or exchanged to another sample.
– Don’t bring any reflective things into the laser beam and near optical elements to avoid scratches (tools, mirrors, wristwatch, jewelry).
– Avoid looking into the microscope from a direction towards the objective lens, where the laser could emerge from.
– Use minimal suitable laser power for your measurements.
-Use of the instruments under the influence of alcohol or drugs is strictly prohibited.
– Users are not allowed to remove or touch objective lenses or other optical parts from the microscope system without a proper training.
Users must follow the Laser safety training by contacting : Steve Keirstead
Mercury lamps safety instruction for HXP
On some of the microscope systems (Zeiss axiozoom V16 and LSM 980), there are mercury lamps installed for wide-field epi-fluorescence observation and detection. For all these lamp types, there is the danger of a lamp breakage , which would result in mercury being released into the air. A lamp burst can occur in very rare cases. This potential risk therefore exists; hence the following safety instruction is given:
In the case of a mercury lamp burst, all personnel should leave the immediate area (the room) at once, so that no mercury vapor is inhaled. The burst of the lamp can be a noticeable loud explosion, however, it can also happen unnoticed. Indeed, it may happen in between two imaging session, when the system was left on for the next user, or when a user has left the room during a long experiment.
Therefore, whenever a user enters an LMF room with a running fluorescence lamp, the user must verify that the lamps are working correctly. This is typically indicated by a green LED at the lamp house.
If any malfunction of a lamp is suspected, the user must inform the LMF staff and enforce all people to leave the room immediately.
If this happens off-time (in the evenings or on the weekend), clearly mark the door from the outside “Mercury lamp burst – do not enter this room!”, and put a tape around the door and door frame, so that nobody can enter the room, and report the issue to fbonnet@mdibl.org / wguglielmo@mdibl.org / skeirstead@mdibl.org
LMF staff will then care for the room (The room will be ventilated thoroughly (at least 20 to 30 minutes, 2-3 air exchanges) and after the lamp housing has cooled, mercury residue will be picked up with a special adsorbent). LMF-staff will announce when the room can be used again in such a case.
Biological safety (BSL1, infectious material, chemicals …)
All LMF rooms in MDIBL are classified as BSL1.
Eating and drinking is not permitted in any LMF room.
All further instructions need to be obeyed as stated in the MDIBL Operating Procedures and Hygiene Plan.
If gloves are worn by the user when handling the samples, these gloves need to be taken off after the sample has been put onto the microscope stage. No gloves can be worn when touching any controls of LMF equipment (for example microscope buttons) or computers. Parts of devices, which cannot be avoided to be touched with gloves (microscope transmitted light arm, stage insert clamps, incubator doors, etc.), need to be carefully decontaminated by the user, in case they were contaminated with BSL1 material. This needs to be done right after contamination and at the end of the imaging session, according to the hygiene plan (with 80% ethanol for BSL1-contamination.
BSL1-samples can be disposed of in the Red Bio-hazard cans or brought back to be disposed in the user’s home lab.
Bookings, modifications, and cancellations
Users can book LMF equipment 24 hours 7 days a week. Support by the LMF staff team is available on weekdays during normal working hours. If users are working in the facility during “after office” hours, users must ensure that they are not alone in case of an emergency and are able to call for help.
Users can make new bookings or extend their booking any time (unless start time has not elapsed). The bookings can at maximum be 14 days (2 weeks) in the future. Users can delete, shorten their booking without getting charged for it.
In case of an overbooked system, or booked and non used booking time which result in a waste of time for other users.
The rule of the 1.5H will be applied. This rule means that users can delete, shorten their booking up to 1.5 hours before the respective slot starts, without getting charged for it
Less than 1.5 hours before a slot starts, bookings are binding, and users can NOT edit it. The user will be charged (50% of the rate) for the slot and stays responsible for the system especially if it is the last slot of the day.
You don’t need to send an email to all users. Emails are automatically sent to users that subscribe to receive notifications for “deleted or changed booking”.
Responsibility if nobody replies: It is still the responsibility of the user who booked the slot originally to switch off the system if no one else takes it. If you are not around to turn off the system, ask an LMF trained colleague or the LMF staff.
Responsibility if somebody replies: By officially taking the slot, the new user takes over the responsibility to switch off the system (if he is the last person of the day) but will not be charged.
If an instrument is found to be on overnight because the last user forgot to shut it down – the booking will be extended as if the system was used overnight and will be charged to the user.
Please keep in mind, that administrators can also edit and cancel your booking under rare circumstance (water leak in the room, power outage, …). You will not always be notified when that happens. Therefore, it is recommended to check your bookings regularly.
User Responsibility Policy
Users must follow all MDIBL LMF and institutional rules and safety regulations. Users are responsible for the correct operation and care of the instruments they are using as indicated during training sessions, or verbally communicated by MDIBL LMF staff.
Users are responsible for shutdown (i.e., following any required checklist) of instruments and the clean-up (i.e., slides, specimens, peripheral equipment, and other tools must be removed, cleaned, or thrown away) of utilized LMF spaces.
Users are responsible for reporting any missing items or relaying empty supplies to MDIBL LMF members.
Users are responsible for reporting breakages, system failures, etc. to MDIBL LMF staff in a timely fashion.
Users will be responsible for repair or service costs arising from negligent or inappropriate use.
PIs assume responsibility for their staff, fellows, and students using the center.
Special booking restrictions at LSMs
There are no restrictions for the systems belonging to the LMF so far. In case of an overbooked system, special rules will be released to allow everyone to use a system in a convenient way.
Data storage
Sign-on procedure
You will be assigned a MDIBL network username that will be used to sign on to LMF computers. Your username will be provided at the time of your initial training.
It is the responsibility of each user to sign out from the computer after each session.
Security practices
Never store any passwords on LMF computers. Do not attempt to install or update any software. Do not access external web sites except as needed to transfer data, etc. Users can bring their own laptops if they want to work at their own computers while acquiring images. Wi-Fi connectivity is available in the facilities.
Data storage and deletion procedure
During data acquisition, data needs to be saved on the local hard disk in the DATA folder on the D drive. Any other location (especially directly storing on a remote path like a file server or a USB-device) may cause problems.
To avoid shortage of local disk space on the systems, staff may delete data in any user folder that is older than 120 days. Users must copy their data to a safe storage medium. Users are free to choose this medium, e.g. the user’s file server space, a fileserver of the user’s institute (for external users) or a personal USB device. The LMF advises users to make the copy as soon as possible after the data acquisition.
For convenience the imaging file server share is connected automatically as the I: drive when you sign on to the computer. The imaging share is backed up to tape on a nightly basis by IT. Instructions for access to the imaging share are available on Labcentral.
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I hereby confirm that I have read and understood the points above.
Acceptance of the policy can be find on the registration form (point7)
Contact fbonnet@mdibl.org today to learn more about our policies and how we can help you achieve your research goals. We look forward to working with you and unlocking the mysteries of the microscopic world together!