Using the Bioimaging Resources
PREREQUISITE: If you want to use the Bioimaging core facility for the first time (microscopes and/or computers), please SUBMIT THE REGISTRATION FORM AVAILABLE ON LINE (HERE).
About the microscopes' use:
- You must be registered to the Bioimaging core facility via our booking system (see above).
- By default, you do not have the full user rights (i.e. you can not book and use all confocal microscopes, Bioflux, video time-lapse, Mirax and Olympus VS120): a training is obligatory to use and book these microscopes.
- If you are never been trained, you can observe the microscopy experiments only with an authorized user from the same lab or the bioimaging staff, but operation of any microscopy facility is not allowed.
- For internals: contact us directly to activate your ID. This will allow you to access to the microscopy room.
- For externals, 2 different situations:
- (UNIGE academics) first you must fill this form available on line HERE (only in French) to get a new ID specific to the Faculty of Medicine. Next, only after having obtained your new ID, contact the Bioimaging staff to proceed to its activation. This will allow you to get an access to the microscopy room.
- (Externals) you can not obtain an ID. You can only use the microscopes during working hours. The Bioimaging staff will open the door of the microscopy room for you.
- Yes. All users must be trained by the Bioimaging staff prior to use the microscope(s). You can contact us via PPMS or directly at bioimaging(at)unige.ch to request a training .
- If you have not used an instrument for a while, please talk first to the Bioimaging facility staff in order to determine if retraining is necessary. After 6 months without having used an equipment, you must follow a new training (your user rights are cancelled= you can not book on PPMS the machine of interest).
- Important: do not forget to bring your own samples for optimizing efficiently your session. This will also allow us to define the right settings for your experiments on the microscope of interest.
No. Do not lend your key card or your personal PPMS login /password.
- Please do not exceed your observation times to avoid penalizing the following user (if there is one immediately after your booked session).
- Turn each microscope on and off as shown during the first training session, don't turn on components you won't use (eg arc lamp when only doing DIC).
- Material required for live imaging (waterbath, peristaltic pump, etc) must be kept associated to its specific acquisition station.
- All Arc lamps must be kept on for 15 minutes minimum and need to cool for 15 minutes minimum before being reignited.
- No. No potentially harmful samples can be imaged in the main microscopes room (C06.1742).
- Biological samples requiring a BSL-2 can be imaged in a dedicated "P2" room (C06.1939a). More information about the access and the operating rules HERE. The specifications of the microscope available in this BSL-2 environment can be consulted HERE.
- Yes. If you bring any live specimens to the facility please dispose of them in the incubator available in the microscope room.
- If you finish earlier, please cancel your end-time on the PPMS booking calendar, thus the other users can see that the microscope is available (and it will also reduce your billing !!!!)
- Leave the microscope and room clean and ready for the next user. Clean any oil/water objectives you used. Users are hold responsible to clean up after each session. This includes cleaning objectives, and removing all their materials. A CHF 50 fine is applied for a station of acquisition that is not cleaned.
- Check the online booking calendar at the end of your session; leave the system on if someone is booked next, otherwise turn it off. Keep lasers OFF whenever possible to prolong their life span.
- If instrument setup changes have been made during a session the user is obliged to put everything back to normal at the end of his/her session
- If you are the last user of the day, do not forget to switch off the system!
- A CHF 50 fine is applied for a station of acquisition left on overnight.
- If you tried to contact the user (with the help of PPMS) and if he did not answer, you are authorized to stop the acquisitions of this user after 10 minutes from the start of your booked session. Please inform us as soon as possible to avoid any conflicts between users.
ABOUT THE COMPUTERS' USE:
Please contact directly Nicolas or Sergei. They will be pleased to help you in your projects. Consultations and support services are available:
- Only Friday (from 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.) (for Sergei).
- From Monday to Friday (from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.) (for Nicolas).
In term of applications, our softwares and skills in image treatment allow to quantify automatically a large diversity of images (co-localization, counting, fluorescence intensity measurements, ...).
Important: before acquiring a large amount of images, it is always recommended to talk with us the best way to make the acquisitions in order to optimize data analysis.
Your request will be processed as follow :
- A first consultation (free of charges) will be organized with the dedicated Bioimaging personnel to determine which method would be the most appropriate to your scientific needs. This will also help us to estimate the time required for its development.
- If the estimated time is less than 2 hours, we will issue directly the invoice.
- If more than 2 hours are needed, a project request must be formally submitted by email to Bioimaging(at)unige.ch. This request must be approved by the Bioimaging board. The submitted project must comply with the platform's rules and will be processed according to the platform priorities. If the project is accepted, the applicant will be notified by email. Then, a quote will be established. Once your PI has accepted the estimate, the work will start. In any case, if the project requires less time than we plan initially, you will be charged only on the scripting hours done.
- The time required for one project must not involve the full-time staff of the platform in an abusive manner. In practice, the Bioimaging is a core facility shared by numerous research groups of the Faculty of Medicine and must dealing simultaneously with multiple projects. This work will be done during the official working hours.
- Priority will be given to internal groups of the Faculty of Medicine.
- Your project will be processed in order of arrival (ticket system) and according to the number of projects that the Bioimaging service must be brought to deal with. If possible, try to contact us in advance in order to process your request in the best conditions.
- If more than 2 hours are needed, a project request must be formally submitted by email to Bioimaging(at)unige.ch. This request must be approved by the Bioimaging board. The submitted project must comply with the platform's rules and will be processed according to the platform priorities. If the project is accepted, the applicant will be notified by email. Then, a quote will be established. Once your PI has accepted the estimate, the work will start. In any case, if the project requires less time than we plan initially, you will be charged only on the scripting hours done.
- The time required for one project must not involve the full-time staff of the platform in an abusive manner. In practice, the Bioimaging is a core facility shared by numerous research groups of the Faculty of Medicine and must dealing simultaneously with multiple projects. This work will be done during the official working hours.
- Priority will be given to internal groups of the Faculty of Medicine.
- Your project will be processed in order of arrival (ticket system) and according to the number of projects that the Bioimaging service must be brought to deal with. If possible, try to contact us in advance in order to process your request in the best conditions.
- If you want to use any of our analysis computers first check their availability using the PPMS portal, and book the needed timeslot accordingly. Do not hesitate to require an assistance by using the dedicated checkbox in the booking menu.
- By default, all registered users possess the users' rights to access to all computers and softwares available at the Bioimaging.
- We are progressively migrating the computers within the AD isis.unige.ch domain. Thus for the computers that are:
- WITHIN the AD (i.e. PC Imaris/Huygens, PC Metamorph green, PC Spectral), you have to log in using your UNIGE credentials at Windows logon screen
- NOT within the AD (i.e. PC MetaXpress, PC Amira, PC Metamorph red, PC Confocal). The only exception at the moment, is PC Definiens, where you have to use the credentials printed next to the computer to locally log in. Right after this step, you will have to enter your PPMS credentials.
- There are 2 situations (see Q2.): -1) if you are using one the computers within the AD just press the Windows key, click on your user icon (3 icons on the top of the Windows one) and click sign out. Alternatively press Win+L. This will end your PPMS session. WARNING: clicking on the PPM logout screen will not close your Windows session and the next user will be able to see all your/your group data! -2) if you are NOT using one the computers within the AD, just click on the logout button within the PPMS windows on the bottom left of your screen
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If you are the last user of the day, please shutdown the computer and the screen.
- There are 2 situations (see Q2.):
- if you are using one the computers within the AD, a NAS drive is automatically mapped (S:\)
- if you are NOT using one the computers within the AD, use the MapNas executable on the desktop and enter your UNIGE credentials and affiliation. Dedicated shortcuts will be enabled in the NAS folder also on the desktop.
- No, do not install any kind of software on our analysis computers. If you need a software not available at Bioimaging Core Facility, we are happy to discuss with you your needs and to find a solution.