LCI user guidelines

Safety

• Risk assessments are room-specific. A risk assessment specific for working at the LCI facility must be submitted before the start of the training. Use the risk assessment template provided by the LCI facility (see below).
• A new risk assessment must be submitted to the LCI if the sample is drastically changed. 

Training

• Using the LCI resources microscope is only allowed after personal training by the LCI staff. Trained users are not allowed to train others.
• Training on one type of systems only gives access to that particular type, not to the others.
• The bonus microscopy session are part of the training and are only valid the week following the training. 

Booking

• If you book in advance, you can only book one time slot per day. However, you can book two different microscopes during the same day.
• There are no rules for same-day bookings. So if you come in the morning and the system is free, you can book it the entire day.
• There are three booking time slots during weekdays:
  • before noon (12:00)
  • 12:00-15:00
  • after 15:00
• Booking across time slots (e.g., 10:00-13:00) its not allowed. Long time lapses over the weekend can start earliest at 15:00 on Friday afternoon and finish no later than at noon on Monday.
• Book enough time to allow  data transfer.
• If you have an exceptional situation that requires deviating from the rules, book as needed and email all users of the system you are booking, informing them that your booking is exceptional and that they can contact you if there are any problems.
• The email address to reach all users for each system can be found at the top of each booking page in iLab.

Cancellation

• Bookings are valid 30 minutes only. Your booking will be automatically cancelled ("No Show") if you do not show up within 30 minutes of the start of the session.
• If you cannot use the time slot you have booked, cancel immediately and send an email to the users of the system. The email address can be found at the top of each booking page in iLab.
• Failing to cancel or activate your booking ("No Show") will result in a charge of 50% of the booked time (hourly fee price)
• If you pay per hour and you start your session late but before it turns into a "No Show" (<30 minutes), you will be charged for the entire booking.
• When using the Remote desktop, you will be invoiced until you finish your session in Kiosk and Sign out from the Remote Desktop. A "No Show" will be charged 50 percent of the booked time. We will charge 500 SEK if any staff member/admin needs to sign you out.

Reporting problems

• Please write down in the logbook any problems you encounter (Laser or software needs restarting, stage or objective is dirty, equipment was left on, etc.) to help establish an instrument history and solve problems.

Care of the equipment

• The normal immersion oil we use at the LCI Core Facility is not compatible with plastic bottom dishes, also referred to as Optical plastic. The immersion oil will melt this plastic, destroy your sample and damage the objective. We have a special (but toxic) oil for such thin plastic bottoms.
• Objective damage happens when users crash the objective into the sample when they cannot find their sample or into the stage while moving. Always find your sample using the technique you learnt during training. 
• Never clamp your sample as this strongly increases the risk of damaging the objective.
• Please remember to take care of the objectives. They are very expensive and easily damaged (e.g. the 60x oil TIRF costs 240 000 SEK).

Computer usage and data storage

• Never store data on the microscope computers. While working on the microscope, store your data in the "Temporary data folder" on the desktop. Before the end of your session, you must transfer the data to the storage server and immediately empty the Temporary data folder. Any data found on the computer will be deleted without prior warning.
• JOBS users can leave the database only (not the data) on the computer in the JOBS database folder or desktop.
• Installation or upgrading of software can only be done by the LCI staff. The software on LCI computers cannot be copied to any other computer, within or outside the LCI Core Facility. The current IT policy at KI must be followed.

How to acknowledge our facility

When data acquired or analysed on the LCI Core Facility's microscopes or the VDI are published, the facility and grant providers must be acknowledged using the following text:

"This study was performed at the Live Cell Imaging Core facility/Nikon Center of Excellence, at Karolinska Institutet, Sweden, supported by the KI infrastructure council."

Additionally, if Gisele Miranda has helped with image analysis, the following text must be added to the one above:

"The BioImage Informatics Facility at SciLifeLab, National Microscopy Infrastructure (VRRFI 2019-00217) and recipient of the Chan-Zuckerberg Initiative, assisted in the image analysis."

Publications

Twice per year we will ask you to help us update our list of LCI articles. To facilitate grant applications, please notify us if your latest paper is not on the list.