Policy

General

University facilities, computers, computer access systems, telephones, and equipment must only be used for University business-related purposes. (links to usage guidelines at UW)
All equipments are open to any University of Washington department or unit.
Users must be trained and evaluated by Facility staff before they are allowed to operate any equipment.
Damage to any equipment will be charged to the users, including all labor and parts cost in addition to hourly charges.
The facility is not responsible for the loss of data on any of our equipment. Files left on our computers will be kept for about a month, shorter if we run out of space. You are strongly advised to transfer the data to your computer, validate, and backup your data as soon as possible.
Policy violations will affect your eligibility to use the equipment and may require re-training at your expense.

All the microscopes and prep labs are on our Google calendar reservation sytem, accessible to all trained users.
There is no limit to the duration of each session; however, the Facility Coordinator will have the option of reassigning any time slot to users with urgent need.
If you do not show up within 30 min of your scheduled time, it will be considered a "no-show" and the time slot will be open to any user.
Please allow time for file transfer if you collect multi-GB or larger files, the next user has the option to pause any file transfer which you can resume later.
If you finish early or decide not to use your appointment, please update the schedule accordingly so other users will know the equipment is available.
Cancellation should be done at least 24 hours ahead of your appointment to allow for rescheduling; otherwise, we may charge you for the remainder of the time slot that we are unable to reschedule. The same applies to "no-shows".

Users should complete the usage log and indicate the specific equipment as required. If the user fails to submit the usage, we will estimate the usage using information from computer logs or other resources at our discretion.
Please clean up after your session. Anything left in the lab will be disposed of at your expense.
Please do not alter any hardware or software configuration, and do not take any accessories or parts out of the lab, unless instructed by Facility staff.

Users must complete all required safety training before they are allowed to use the facility.
Specific safety training, Personal Protective Equipment requirements, and accident reporting are indicated during the user registration process when applying for training.
A digital version of the CHP and other related documents can be found on our computers and google drive (accessible by registered users only): Lab safety manual with CHP, SOP with safety training and PPE requirements, laboratory floor plans, emergency exits and evacuation assembly points.

You are encouraged to acknowledge "The Biology Imaging Facility at the University of Washington" in any publications involving data collected using the facility. Please also provide a reference (reprint, citation, or URI) for our record.
OMX SR users: please acknowledge grant proposal S10 OD021490 on any publications using data obtained with this instrument.