Policies

• In order to gain access to the confocal facility and training, investigators must contact the director of the facility, Dr. Michael H. Nathanson, or Technical Director, Mateus Guerra.
• Instruments cannot be removed from the lab at any time, except with staff authorization.
• Users of the facility should not store samples, solutions, or other materials within the facility unless authorized, and if so only in designated areas. Any sample or solution left unlabeled will be discarded.

Instrument and Specimen Handling

• The staff is happy to provide users with instructions for the handling and cleaning of instruments and specimen handling in a safe manner.
• Spills need to be cleaned immediately and reported for further technical care. Individuals who do not report spills will not be able to use the facility again.
• Any slides with oil may not be used on microscopes with dry and water lenses.
• Any oil getting on a non-oil objective must be cleaned immediately with ethanol and reported to the facility manager.
• At the end of each session, users must clean the lenses used. Instructions for lens and specimen cleaning are posted nearby the microscopes.

Booking

• Microscope bookings are made through PPMS.
• Individuals working with live cells/tissue are allowed four hour time slots during work hours (8:00 am - 6:00 pm). This is limited to the 2 such slots per microscope per week. This applies to each lab, not individual.
• All others using fixed cells/tissue may sign up for no more than 2 hour time slots. This is limited to four such slots per microscope per week, and again that is per lab.
• There is no limit to usage after 6:00 pm and on weekends.

CCMI Core Cancellation or No-Show Policy

• Users that reserve microscope time and do not show up will be billed for their reserved time as if it were used.
• Cancellations within 24h of scheduled reservation will be billed unless that time slot is subsequently booked by another user.

Training

• Training on confocal microscopes is provided free of charge to investigators with the permission of the Director. Investigators are welcome to bring their samples during these sessions.
• Training's are performed by the staff of the facility only, unless with special authorization.
• For more information on training, please contact Mateus Guerra.

Computers

• Users are not allowed to download or install software on any of the computers without asking the staff. These computers are available exclusively for imaging samples, analysis and 3-4 dimensional reconstructions of pictures.
• Users should back-up their files on CD or other storage mediums, and delete their files from hard disks. Hard disks will be cleaned up on a regular basis.

Publication Acknowledgment

• If research supported by this Research Core results in publication, please acknowledge this support by including the following in your publication(s): "We thank the Yale Center for Cellular & Molecular Imaging Confocal Facility for usage of their _________ microscope(s).”