Optical Facility Policies

The Optical Facility supports the research and teaching activities of members of the Department of Biological Sciences. Individuals outside of the department are provided access to the facility on a fee per service basis. These individuals should contact the facility manager for more information.

The following policies will be adhered to at all times:

Regular working hours for the Facility are Monday - Friday, 8:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. Users wishing access to the Facility after hours or on weekends may do so only after they have been checked-out on the operation of the instruments. Access to the facility after normal working hours will be through use of keys kept in basement locker. The code to open this locker will be given to qualified personnel.

There is a graduate course listed for 1 hour credit taught by Dr. Kevin Vaughan in the Principles of Light and Electron Microscopy.  BIOS 70558/9 (formally BIOS 558A/B) is the course code where Light Microscopy theory, preparations, and techniques are covered in the Fall semester and the same for Electron Microscopy are covered in the Spring semester.  Students are taught how to operate the systems available in the Facility and must complete a project and give a short presentation at the end of the semester to receive the credit. Formal training opportunities for basic instructions on the instruments are offered by the Lab Manager, Bill Archer, who is also available to schedule specialized training and to offer the necessary information and expertise to enable investigators to carry out their research.

Users MUST SIGN UP IN ADVANCE to reserve use of equipment in the Facility during normal working hours as well as after hours and on week-ends. Sign up sheets for each instrument are posted on the outer doors within the Facility. Users are allowed to sign up in advance for a maximum of 4 hours per lab, per day. Users may expand the 4 hours per lab, per day time frame as long as no one else is scheduled to use the equipment that day, and there is unclaimed time available following the user's scheduled time.

If you cannot keep your scheduled time for the use of equipment, kindly mark off your name on the sign up sheets, or inform the lab manager of your cancellation, to allow others to schedule use of the equipment. Scheduled users have a 30 minute grace period at the beginning of their scheduled time. After the 30 minute grace period, the equipment is available to other users on a first come first serve basis. Repeated failure to use the time scheduled in advance may result in loss of "sign up in advance" privileges.

Please sign the log sheets (by each instrument) for actual hours of use and to record supplies (film, paper, prints, solutions, etc.) used from the Facility at the end of your scheduled time. Please inform the lab manager of the status of the instruments (any malfunctions, etc.) and/or supplies or solutions that were exhausted during your scheduled time. You may do this by phone, e-mail, or note left on the lab manager's desk. This allows for timely maintenance and/or restocking of supplies/solutions and reduces down time of equipment or any inconvenience to others using the Facility after you.

Each user is responsible for cleaning up the area, room and instrument in the Facility that they were scheduled to use. People scheduled to use the Facility after you should not have to clean up before they start their work. If you need storage space in the Facility, there is a blue cabinet in room 008 available for personal supplies. Place your name or lab group name on the supplies and place in the cabinet. Materials left scattered around will either be discarded or added to the Facility's general supplies. Do not leave samples, slides, etc. in the instruments overnight.

Please keep all doors in the Facility locked if unattended. This will prevent equipment, supplies, etc. from disappearing. ABSOLUTELY DO NOT REMOVE equipment, books, or supplies (unless supplies have been duly logged out) from the Facility.

Instruments in operation should not be left unattended. Do not expect the lab manager to "bail you out" unless an emergency arises or your have made previous arrangements with him. Do not write on or deface the instruments in any way. If instrument's settings or parameters are changed for special projects or procedures, please change them back to the original setting or parameters, which have been worked out for the majority of the users working in the Facility. Do not attempt to fix instruments that are malfunctioning. Report such problems immediately to the lab manager.

General or routine maintenance of equipment is required so that the instruments function at peak performance. Depending on the instrument, general or routine maintenance will occur monthly to 2 or 3 times yearly, and take from 4 hours to 2 days to complete. The lab manager will schedule maintenance times as far in advance as scheduling allows.

All supplies of the Facility used by researchers will be charged to the appropriate account. Please log all supplies used on the proper log sheets and inform the lab manager of what was used as well as the account number to charge. Billing will be completed at the end of each month.  The following is a list of user charges for the instruments, systems, services, and supplies from the Optical Facility.  The charges for supplies are based on the cost that the Facility pays to purchase them.