Gaining access to the equipment in the GC3F microscopy facility generally requires the following steps. Access to workstations requires a very brief introduction.
- Contact Adam Fries for a brief consultation to determine the best instrument for your needs.
- Register an iLab account (for calendar access and billing) with your UO credentials here, https://uoregon.ilab.agilent.com/account/login
- Once you have a registered iLab account and have been assigned a valid index, schedule a training session with Adam.
- Send Adam Fries your UO 95 number for card access to the imaging facility in Klamath 270. Instrument reservations are made though iLab, and each user will need to register for an iLab account if they do not have one. Once training on the instrument has been scheduled and completed, new users will be granted calendar access.
Individualized training recharge for each of the instruments is a one-time fee of $150 ($300 for external customers).
Contact Adam Fries for more information regarding instruments, training, or analysis, or visit the office in Klamath 270D.
Training
There is a one-time training fee of $150 per instrument. The goal of training is to ensure you feel confident, independent, and capable of operating the instrument safely and efficiently. You can expect multiple sessions, depending on your individual progress. Training will typically be done in pairs or individually, though group sessions of up to three people may be allowed in some cases. The first session will cover the following topics. Since there are many important details, please bring something to take notes with:
- The basic physics and optics of fluorescence microscopy.
- The light path specific to the system you are being trained on.
- Hardware components of the microscope relavent to your experiment.
- The power on/off protocol, and basic operation of the microscope, including how to image multiple channels, perform a z-stack, and carry out a time-lapse (if applicable).
- How to use the image histogram for quality control and identify pixel saturation.
- The relationship between resolution, magnification, and spatial sampling, and how the objective factors into determining these parameters.
Subsequent sessions will review these topics and be used to optimize for your specific experiment. It's best to have a test sample ready at this stage. Training is complete once you no longer need assistance with routine operational questions, can demonstrate proper care to prevent damage to the microscope and especially the objectives, and pass a brief quiz with 100%. Once complete, calendar access through iLab will be granted and you can begin scheduling and imaging on your own.