Setting Up and Running an Advanced Light Microscopy and Imaging Facility

Abstract

During the last twenty years, interest in light microscopy and imaging techniques has grown in various fields, such as molecular and cellular biology, developmental biology, and neurobiology. In addition, the number of scientific articles and journals using these techniques is rapidly increasing. Nowadays, most research institutions require sophisticated microscopy systems to cover their investigation demands. In general, such instruments are too expensive and complex to be purchased and managed by a single laboratory or research group, so they have to be shared with other groups and supervised by specialized personnel. This is the reason why microscopy and imaging facilities are becoming so important at research institutions nowadays. In this unit, we have gathered and presented a number of issues and considerations from our own experience that we hope will be helpful when planning or setting up a new facility. Curr. Protoc. Cytom. 57:12.22.1‐12.22.21. © 2011 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Setting up a light microscopy core facility: Facility design

“…The aim is to provide an overview of the building considerations. These are also covered in very instructive articles on facility setup and operation [1][2][3] but are considered together with other equally important aspects of operation. The complexity of the issues involved merits a closer look as attempted here.…”

A novel room concept for shared resource laboratories

“…Although general considerations and requirements for the laboratory space of SRLs have been discussed previously [4][5][6][7][8][9], the effectiveness of different strategies has not been well documented and remains only anecdotally reported. In particular, high-end microscope room temperature stability requirements have been increasing but data on air conditioning performance in an SRL has not been shown.…”