School of Science, Engineering and Technology

Each user is limited to a total of three prime-time sign-ups* at any given time, and no more than two prime-time sign-ups per week. 

This means that if you have signed up for two blocks of prime time for the current week (eight hours total), you can only sign up for one more four-hour prime time block in the following week. Once you have used one of your prime-time sessions, you can then sign up for another (third) session in the following week. Currently, there are no limits when signing up for evenings, holidays and weekends.

*Prime-time =  9 a.m. – 6 p.m.; One prime-time block = 4 hours

Reservation Calendar

Light Microsopy Core Facility Reservation Calendar

Sign up for no more than four-hour blocks during prime time. If you need more time, please contact the lab to make arrangements. If your plans change, cancel your reservation promptly.

*Prime time =  9 a.m. – 6 p.m.; One prime-time block = 4 hours

Note: In order to be granted access to the calendar and any of the instrumentation, training will be required. Please contact Andrew Stone for more information.

In order to better match billing to your actual time used, please use the check in/check out feature when making your reservation. Check in when you get to your session and check out when you are done. If you do not adjust your time by checking out early, your lab will be billed according to your reserved time.

Note: Though this will automatically open the schedule for other users, it does not change any of our policies regarding releasing time and notifying other users that the time is available. View instructions on how to check in and out.

Brandeis welcomes external non-profit and for-profit users of our light microscopy facilities. To request use of the facilities as an external user and recieve more information on rates associated with external use, please complete the External User Queries Form.

The facility operates a bi-annual, three-day course in the fundamentals of fluorescence microscopy. This hands-on course, which runs in January and August, provides participants with an understanding of the physics of fluorescence and the confidence to design and conduct rigorous microscopy experiments.

If for any reason you cannot use your session, it is your responsibility to delete the sign-up entry from the reservation calendar as early as possible. Please be considerate and send an email to the users mailing list to let others know that your slot is available.

Vacant and canceled time slots can be grabbed by any qualified user 24 hours in advance without being counted against your sign-up quota. The grabbed time should also be entered in the reservation calendar and log-in sheet. Please note in calendar and log sheet "grab" for clarity. Please do not convert your own regular sign-up into a “grab” to circumvent the sign-up quota.

If a user does not show up after one hour from the entered starting time, their reservation will be lost. Any qualified user can sign up or grab this session if they see the scope is free (please check the sign-in/out sheet). Tardy users can also grab their own session upon arrival, if the session is still available.

While all of the core facility instruments are available to all users, several of the instruments have priority access days for specific user groups (e.g. owners of the instrument or major users on a shared instrumentation grant). These policies will be communicated during training.