FACILITY USE GUIDELINES

The Purdue Electron Microscopy Center (PEMC) is a campus wide core facility with equipment in three buildings across campus. All university researchers have equal access to the services provided by the PEMC. External users are accommodated as time permits.

Many different researchers use the PEMC so it is essential that all users respect the needs of others and leave equipment and space as you would hope to find it. There are a few laboratory guidelines that all users are asked to observe in order to keep equipment in good working order.

We have a cancellation policy built into the iLab reservation system. Generally you can cancel your own reservations within two hours of the start of the session. We understand unforeseen circumstances occur but please try to only reserve time that you know you can properly use and let us know if you have to cancel at short notice so that we can open up the time for others to use.

Do not attempt to fix any equipment problems, regardless how small or insignificant they may appear. Contact the staff and they will rectify the problem or will contact the appropriate service personnel. Contact the center director over Teamsat the lab (47750) or at home ((469) 231 9099 – text too!) if any equipment or other problems arise in the laboratory. The general lab number is 46666. We can only maintain the equipment properly if you, the user, keep us informed of potential problems.

Core staff work as efficiently and carefully as possible and treat all investigators and their projects with equal respect. Our aim is to provide a rigorous scientific environment coupled with a relaxed and informal atmosphere.

All projects are handled on a first come first served basis. Investigators are encouraged to schedule sample submission as far in advance as possible. This is important for staff time management and scheduling. Investigators or their students and staff are encouraged to attend imaging sessions when the service option is chosen.

If at any time you have questions about lab policy or have special needs, please do not hesitate to let us know and we will try to accommodate you.

Or goal is to have no conflicts! However, things happen. The first approach should be to the facility Director. If no satisfactory outcome is achieved we can escalate to the advisory committee, the head of HLA or to the Associate Dean and Director of Ag Research in the College of Agriculture.

Publication / Acknowledgement Policy

No matter how small a portion of your published work involved electron microscopy, it is important that you include a reference in your papers, posters, etc. to acknowledge that electron microscopy was completed at the PEMC. Below is a default text you can use in the acknowledgments portion of your papers. It includes our Facility RRID, which is a unique identifier for the PEMC that allows us to easily search for all papers that have used our core.

Electron microscopy was performed using instrumentation in the Purdue Electron Microscopy Center (RRID:SCR_022687).

Why is Acknowledgement important?

The PEMC is chiefly funded by money from grants. In order to continue to purchase cutting-edge equipment to allow you to perform the high-quality research that you need, we have to put in grant proposals. One of the primary questions in many grants we apply for is “How many papers have been published using data from your core facility.” By including a reference to us in your papers, you allow us to make more robust applications, allowing us to obtain funds that enable the purchase of new microscopes and accessories.

Additional information

Inclusion of PEMC staff on publications is not assumed when a sample is submitted. Inclusion is not expected for providing routine sample preparation and imaging.

Inclusion as a co-author on a publication is appreciated and may be requested if the investigator requests staff be involved in data interpretation, input in experimental design, and participation in manuscript preparation. Such request for authorship should be made and agreed to by all parties prior to beginning these additional activities. In turn, no staff member should be included as a co-author without their permission and their having the opportunity to review a manuscript prior to submission.

The recovery of expenses through the Core cost recovery system does not exclude the possibility for authorship for core research personnel. Similarly, investigators are expected to pay all charges incurred in the PEMC and this is independent of authorship on resulting publications.

Confidentiality:

Confidentiality is required by university policy for all users who are members of the Purdue research community. The University Policies on Intellectual Property and on Research Misconduct establish that research and research data at Purdue is to be protected from intentional and unintentional disclosure. Relevant Purdue policies are found at the University Policy Office.

External users of the core, identified as any person or group who are not members of the Purdue staff, are extended similar confidentiality treatment. Confidentiality contracts are executed for external users upon request through the Contracts Group in the Sponsored Programs Office. The PEMC director will provide assistance in establishing such agreements upon request. Additional information.

Difficult projects:

The PEMC staff does it’s best to produce usable data from every experiment. However, this cannot be guaranteed to be successful, especially for pilot experiments. Each project involves consumables and technical time as well as instrument use. Investigators can be given cost estimates upon request. They are informed of potential problems prior to the start of the experiment and are expected to pay for all services requested and completed even if data produced is not as anticipated by the investigator.

There will be no charge for experiments that fail due to errors (see note) by the PEMC staff or equipment malfunction as long as no usable data is collected. If the investigator elects to collect data from experiments that are technically not up to standard than normal charges will apply.

The investigator may elect to terminate a project prior to completion. However they will be charged for all procedures completed prior to the experiment termination.

Note: Errors are defined as mistakes in carrying out the planned procedures. Unsuccessful sample preparation based on the unique nature of the samples or sample response to routine preparation methods is not considered an error. Investigators are encouraged to provide methods from the literature as a basis for preparation of new samples so as to minimize potential sample preparation problems.