Guidelines for Registration

Staff members of the Cytometry Facility teach you how to operate the instruments as well as preparation techniques and methods.

Users are allowed to operate the instruments only if they gained sufficient knowledge beforehand. The facility staff instruct and decide for each user individually whether the education is appropriate. Guarantee on device performance and / or experiment outcome especially cell sorts is not given! Booked time must be paid under all circumstances. The Cytometry Facility reserves the right to educate new operators on user samples. Fees are published on the facility website.

Cancellation policy:

• If you cannot attend an appointment with our staff (service or support and power user training), cancel the meeting at least 24 hours prior to the date then it will not be charged. For non-attendance without further notice the full price is charged. For cancelling on short notice (less than 24h) we will charge 1 hour of the respective service.
• Cancellation of a technical introduction needs to be done 3 working days in advance otherwise the full fee will be charged.
• For all independent users of analyzers and sorters cancellation deadlines are implemented in the booking calendar in general 24h.

All work published that include results obtained using resources of the Cytometry Facility should be acknowledged and a copy of the publication must be sent to the scientific director. Examples for acknowledgments
...Flow cytometry was performed with equipment of the flow cytometry facility, University of Zurich...
...Flow cytometry was performed with support of the Flow Cytometry Facility, University of Zurich...
...The authors acknowledge the assistance and support of the Flow Cytometry Facility, University of Zurich for performing cell sorting experiments...

The user and their PI subscribe with the registration to treat material and instruments carefully, report any irregularities to the facility staff, book via the official facility instrument booking system before using a cytometer and accept the facility guidelines including cancellation policy.

Scientific projects can be performed in collaboration with the Cytometry Facility on request. Collaborations are characterized by intense scientific input, extensive preparation and analysis of the samples but also unusual operation of instruments. Whether a collaboration is established between scientific core facility staff and a research group is decided by the Directors of the Cytometry Facility after a project discussion. Staff members involved in collaboration must be authors on the resulting publication.

Staff members of the Cytometry Facility will do all the preparative work on a service like basis. The Cytometry Facility will charge the staff time used for all preparative steps, experiment planning, the instruments usage and operator time for running the instrument and/or help on data analysis according to SNF recommendations.

Methodical Problems in acquisition of Cytometry samples or data analysis can be discussed with the staff of the Cytometry Facility. Staff time is charged using operator fees.

Instruments are charged automatically based on the entries in the reservation system or computer login time. Booked and instrument usage time is used for billing. Accounting will be done every three months (1^st of March, 1^st of June, 1^st of September, 1^st of December). Changes of the instrument fees will be communicated individually by email to every user and PI beforehand. Fees are published on the homepage.

`No show` bookings are excluded from caps and will be billed.

Access to all systems is possible during legal working hours for users having the necessary knowledge to work independently and safe. Reservation of systems is mandatory prior that work is started. Reservations must be done for the whole time the system is used. Reservation of systems without usage is not allowed and will be billed. Caps will not apply here. Logging to the systems must be done with the personal username and password. Logging using a different username and password is not allowed. Lost login information or password reset can always be obtained from the IT-Infrastructure website of the Cytometry facility. Booking regulations for all instruments are communicated in the facility booking calendar and need to be fulfilled by the users. Problems with systems must be communicated to the staff personally or via instrument feedback form.  We communicate system repairs immediately to all users having booked the device in order to enable them to book an alternative device.

All work involving biosafety class 2 organisms on all our systems must be performed according to GLP and biosafety regulations of the Cytometry Facility, University of Zurich and the BAG (Bundesamt für Gesundheit). Biosafty class, Material and amount are mandatory to be communicated truly via instrument booking calendar.

PI and Biosafety officers of the user are responsible to ensure that the users fulfill all biosafety rules in the rooms of the Cytometry facility, Kispi and Hematology. The class 2 cell culture lab may be used for culturing and preparing cells for experiments performed with all systems at the Cytometry Facility.

The manufacturer of the cytometers offer remote support. Please be aware that there is a possibility that the manufacturer might become aware of your name, should remote support be requested during operation. To prevent disclosing personal data afterwards, please always delete your name, user entry, user data after using the devices of the cytometry facility.